Thank you, Mr. Chairman. During the last few years that I have served, I have always looked at the Fort Providence nursing station as in pretty good shape. I couldn't justify whether or not the expenditure necessary for that building was really necessary. I want to tell the Members, it wasn't until we did a tour of the facility with some of the Executive Members, that I have come to realize that there are a great deal of deficiencies with regard to the nursing station itself. I am going to highlight some of them. One of them, is with regard to temperature control for medications and such. Some medications require the right kind of temperature to have the medicine stored.
The other situation is with regard to emergencies. If a person has an accident, most of the time there isn't the required emergency entrance and exit for people who get into an accident.
The other issue is with regard to the X-ray room. It should be downstairs. They have relocated it upstairs for emergency purposes, since anyone who breaks a leg or is unconscious has to be dragged downstairs into the basement in order for them to have their X-ray taken. The building isn't even designed for stretchers. We have a situation where you have to go down one stairway and turn the patient 180 degrees to go down the other way. The X-ray room, Mr. Chairman, is one of the rooms that was used for patients. It is not made to shield the radiation from the X-ray machine from the staff. So, every time an X-ray is required, the room is right next to the administration room and so the staff are required to get out of those rooms while the X-ray is being taken, in order to limit their exposure.
And, of course, the other thing, is with regard to the practicality for patients. Right now, we still have situations where most of the dental work and that sort of thing is done downstairs too. It is okay the way it is right now, but the building is not designed for wheelchairs. People that are in wheelchairs have to use the stairs and I don't know how they manage that. That's another situation. I think all the services should be provided on one level.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, I would like to say that the nurses in Fort Providence have their own residence in the community and there are a lot of empty spaces in that building. I want to say that the money allocated for the renovation and replacement of the nursing station in Fort Providence is justifiable but I didn't see it at that time. I appreciate the department having allocated that money.
It would have been built and maybe the capital allocation would have been made earlier, had I convinced the department to do so. But, I neglected to go to the nursing station to justify it. I wanted to apologize to the nurses in Fort Providence for my ignorance. I do support the allocation now, and I also want to say the problems are serious and the situation requires some pretty fast action to address the problems. Those are just my general comments. I don't require a response from the department. It is just to justify my own actions. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.