Lesa Semmler

Mr. Speaker, residents across the Northwest Territories depend on a health and social services system that is steady, responsive, and able to adapt under pressure. In recent years, our system has indeed faced significant pressures, which is a key factor in my decision to appoint a public administrator to lead the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority just over a year ago. His role is to help guide the authority through this period of transition and support the system as it responds to these pressures.

Today, in light of recent concerns raised by Members of this House about...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these are questions that vary in the operations, and it's not something that I keep at my fingertips. So I know that we are constantly in recruitment of physicians and health professionals throughout our entire system; however, when there are -- you know, they have to meet certain criteria. They have to have registration and be able to practice. So, you know, I don't -- like, again, like I said the detail in this type of a question I don't have at my fingertips. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the health authority has an established process that sends referrals to specialty -- like, to specialists throughout our system; however, I don't have the level of detail here in the House today to be able to respond to that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have that level of detail of the process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct. When you're an inpatient, it is a paper file; however, in primary care there are some forms of -- with this tool, it would be uploaded as the information goes into the EMR. However, many of our specialty reports that come back are paper and they're uploaded into EMR so that way it's accessible throughout the EMR. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oh, sorry. With this -- I am just passionate; I used to be an advanced foot care nurse, so. And I believe that, you know, it does take an analysis, and so what I will commit to is bringing this back to NTHSSA. Within NTHSSA, we do have a territorial director of home and community care, and branch out. Because we do have a professional development PDI for our healthcare providers, and maybe we need to find and bring some opportunities, especially for our small communities. So I will commit to bringing that back to NTHSSA to be able to work towards making sure there's training available for our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, as I mentioned, in our small communities we oversee -- you know, there's acute care. So that would be your community -- like, seeing the community health nurse. If they're seeing home support, home support, they can, you know, ensure that the home support workers know that, you know, if they're part of the home care team, they would know if they're diabetic and have these issues. However, diabetic foot care is an advanced practice and so there is training for this. What I can do is I can take this back to NTHSSA and say how much training and is there gaps in all...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within the communities, dental -- or sorry, community health reps can be doing a lot of that health promotion, especially in the public, in the schools, making sure that, you know, it's an important part of teaching kids to make sure they're brushing their teeth. Also, the other piece underway is the modernization of dental equipment as I mentioned. But I would like to say that there are some Indigenous governments that have taken some more leads in this area, and I would -- the IRC for instance, they have established their own program, you know, with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Member's question, right now what we are doing, immediate steps what we are doing is ensuring that there is a process for everyone who is covered under their insurance, applicable insurance. So for First Nation/Inuit, that would be through NIHB; Metis benefit, then they would go through that program or extended health benefits or employer benefits. But while saying that, that will help to access the travel to get to the dentist in the capital, or if you're in the Beaufort Delta sometimes it helps to get you to Whitehorse, what we're doing right now is we've -- we...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Additional Information for Written Question 30-20(1): Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority Action Plans. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.