Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as of the end of April, we have 894 non-senior residents approved. We have 3,671 seniors approved. Of those non-senior -- oh, yes, 461 were formally on the specific -- specified disease condition program. So right now, we have 433 brand new registrants. What I can do is get our enrolment database to record -- I mean, they do record the clients' region so I can share that information with the Member once we have all of that information compiled. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm not wanting to paraphrase but I've heard from enough people through -- since being the Minister that one of the issues is people do leave. Some people -- you know, maybe they don't -- they can't afford or they don't know and they don't get the travel insurance, and they get sick. I can raise this with the Minister of Indigenous Service Canada who this program falls under, but as of the Northwest Territories, this program is funded by them so we administer what we negotiate with them, so I can add this as something that could be looked at, but I can't commit that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I shared the last meeting that was this week with the Members, and we are working on the next couple of regional wellness council chairs as the public administrator is travelling through all the regions, attending, visiting the health centres, working with staff, meeting with the regional wellness councils in-camera and then meeting in -- and listening to the public as they bring forward their issues to these regional wellness council meetings. So as those meetings are scheduled, as those are in control of the regional wellness councils, that is when we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I would like to say is that with the new locum rates that are being -- we are already getting an uptake of people contacting to come to work, and so the department -- like, the OMAC, the office of medical credentialing, is working with those and working with NTHSSA as well as Hay River health authority, to look at their staffing levels within the health authority, and a lot of times staffing schedules are done in increments. And this is something that is not new and so as the -- as we get locums, you know, people apply, and then we fill up the...

I withdraw my comments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. From what the information that I have on file is that this was work of the working group, the emergency room working group that initiated and recommended these changes so that we would change from four physicians working throughout the day versus the three physicians plus a general -- like, a general practitioner which would help because of the specialization of the emergency room specialty, that this will help, you know, flow of patients, and it would also, from the understanding from the working group, that this could help promote recruitment and retention in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we did the town halls throughout the territory, one of the themes was safety. You know, the safety of the frontline staff in all of our regions, our small communities, you know, they're -- in the health centres, you know, they go and the nurses have to go in. Sometimes they're there; they have to call in an extra staff member to be with them at night. We've heard from Hay River the concerns from the Hay River region. We've heard from the Tlicho. We've heard from the Stanton. And I would like to let the Members know -- and I can follow up with further --...

Mr. Speaker, making health care accessible to every Northwest Territories resident is a core mandate priority of this government. People across the Northwest Territories access our medical travel program, whether they are travelling to access health services in a regional centre, in the capital, or in the south. This means that a reliable medical travel program is vital to the Northwest Territories residents and to achieving this mandate priority.

In every community I have visited, residents tell me how difficult it is to navigate medical travel. This process can be confusing and frustrating...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will get the full details of that, and I will be glad to share that with the Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, those town halls are internal meetings with staff. Those are considered staff meetings. We did highlight in the -- so that way that they could freely speak to leadership. We have highlighted in the letter, and we have shared with committee, you know, the highlights of these and we will continue to work with staff through the public administrator as this is the operation of this arm. And right now, some of the things that he's doing is -- you know, as soon as he got off the ground, he and the CEO have travelled into the Deh Cho and they are looking at...