Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the health authority's preference is to bring specialists to the Northwest Territories; however, all the specialists are not always available to travel to the Northwest Territories as they service Alberta residents at the same time. So within access to care, we provide them with the travel to Alberta for that care. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my deputy minister and the public administrator are working on this, you know, and I believe that they will be coming forward to me with this information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what we do have for the Inuvik region, which services all of the communities, is we do have an Indigenous patient health navigator. However, within our health services and all our health centres, anyone needing information around the services that they can -- they do provide and how to access those services should be readily available by any health centre. So if there's information that the Member is wanting exactly, you know, feel free to reach out to my office so we can have -- you know, we can send out to the health centres specifically some information...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there was a chronic disease framework that was completed. And to implement that, the department is currently -- in the proposed budget, there's some staffing resources in there to implement that budget. However, to get to more specifics, and because I knew that the question was coming, I broke it down for the Member for TCSA. So within each authority in each region, they all work with the communities to see what their priorities are. And within the TCSA, diabetes has been highlighted. And so to better -- TCSA is working collaboratively with the Tlicho...

Mr. Speaker, primary care is the first point of contact for most residents in our health system. It sets the direction for the care they receive and helps ensure people get the right care, at the right time, from the right provider.

As an Indigenous Minister with a background in health care, I understand both the frustrations of residents and the challenges our system is facing. Improving access, reducing inequities, and strengthening the way our system operates are priorities of this Legislative Assembly and are the priorities that I have been working hard to address since becoming Minister.

Th...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within the whole of the territory, this is where primary care reform is the leading area of this. It's access to care. I've said it on the floor of this House many times, you know, we have the challenges over the years of access to care. And so people need to know how to access care and where is the appropriate -- and that's what implementing this framework is going to do for chronic disease management. It's going to give everyone a roadmap as to how to access the certain different areas in their region to be able to deal with these things. However, by...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, throughout the Northwest Territories, the health authorities lead this work. The department works with them and, you know, if there's funding that they can access through federal funding, that they obtain through that. However, the authorities have their health promotion arm where that is where community health representatives, public health, all of those different areas, primary care providers, so your first response to -- or your first access to care would be through your primary care provider. In the small communities, it would be your health centre...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when there is a -- you know, a situation arise in a small community or in a family or if people are living in a home that now they can't occupy or they have to leave in order to keep the kids, the goal of child and family services is to try to keep the family together and try to get them to a safe place as soon as possible, and they usually work within the family first. And so if they identify an area where there is a family that they can go and stay, then they will make arrangements and support them to try and get there. That work doesn't stop there. It...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not sure of the actual protocol that they use, but I am aware that in communities where they are -- you know, where there is concerns, RCMP, if there is a need to go into the house, they -- and they know that there's children, they will contact child and family services. The other way around, if child and family services get a complaint and needs to go in to a family's home and they suspect that there could be, you know, drugs and crime going on, that they will contact RCMP as well to escort them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I can do is I will bring that back to the department. I know that we are doing a feasibility study right now currently for MRI for Yellowknife, so I am sure we have some of that data. Thank you.