Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for that question. Mr. Speaker, you know, we've heard in this House many times from many members, especially the representatives from the small communities, on health care in the small communities and, you know, we were we're going not just the Northwest Territories but Canada has been struggling with health care service providers, getting hiring permanent nursing, permanent doctors, so I think that there has been some work done. And I've mentioned this, you know, working with the paramedics in the small communities when needed to make...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to be clear. Diabetes is a disease on its own. Kidney disease is a separate disease. It affects the kidneys and it's not you know, it's not the same. So although we have you know, on one hand we have lots of people with diabetes and, yes, we do need and we have those supports in all the communities, like the testing, the medication. But for dialysis, you know, there's other options as well. Like, there's peritoneal dialysis, which we do have I think three patients in the territory. They don't have to move to Yellowknife because of the level that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I guess I'm confused. With diabetes, people see access outside of Yellowknife. They access the physician. They are able to get their prescriptions for their you know, the medication that they're on. They're able to get the you know, the necessary tools that they need to check their blood sugar. There's many this is available outside of Yellowknife. So I can look into further what patients, if they are travelling to Yellowknife for diabetes services but I you know, I'll just leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I think Yellowknife has the dialysis for people that are in kidney failure, and I believe that the last last term, the Member from Hay River South advocated very hard for Hay River to have a dialysis and that is currently running there. But as for diabetes and services, you know, outside of Yellowknife, the, you know, access to diabetes information, there the hospitals in Inuvik and Hay River, the health centre in Fort Smith, the you know, the community health centres. And, again, like I said, home care works with a lot of our diabetes patients and the diabetes...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that specific detail I don't have here, but I'm willing to work with the Member and all Members in that hence to get that information and provide it back to the Member on the permanent how many permanent health care nurses that we do have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I can't understate the challenge that we face in the Northwest Territories. You know, I assure this House that we are actively working to improve health care. I've had many discussions with my staff. I've had discussions, you know, from what I've heard from other Members. And one of the discussions that I have been having is, you know, ensuring that we're looking at the communities and the model that we're providing in the communities, and that is something that I will be focusing on during my time as the Minister of health, is how, you know, the how...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize Shirley Elias. She's a constituent of mine. She's also one of our interpreters. And I'd also like to thank all the interpreters for this first sitting of the 20th Assembly, and I'm sorry if I spoke too fast, and I'll try to remember to slow down. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, yes, I will commit to doing that and making sure that there is some kind of information that can go out to Members and to -- a communique on how this list is monitored. Thank you.

Thank you, Member, for the question. And after our back and forth on this question the last time, I did try to get more and more of the information that I would be able to provide to the Member. And so the list -- this list has been in place -- it sits within the -- like, the -- it's an electronic list. So people -- and it's monitored regularly. And the information that I can provide is that there -- if there's a need for a patient that, you know, has chronic illness and things like that, then they, you know, they may, you know, be able to be assigned a doctor sooner. As for how long people...

Sorry, Mr. Speaker. We are continuing to work with Alberta in -- there's -- nothing has changed, and I want -- I think that's the thing is right now, within our health care system our referral process is to Alberta. There is no change in that referral service. The -- they are still -- they are still providing the service in Alberta. If -- and I think -- so people are aware, we will continue -- like our department is continuing to work with the Government of Alberta to clarify Alberta's proposed policy and how they may impact residents of the Northwest Territories receiving out-of-territorial...