Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To continue the standing committee's report in the area of medical travel and Stanton Territorial Hospital. Committee members are pleased that Stanton will be taking a central, coordinating role in determining which patients require primary care in Alberta. The department's own consultants have estimated that during one sample year, anywhere from 1,000 to 1,800 bed days were paid for in Alberta for patients who could have been treated at Stanton.
We are paying to staff a hospital to operate at or near capacity. It makes no sense to send patients from Inuvik directly to Edmonton, when the bed space required, specialists and level of nursing care are readily available at Stanton.
Except in the most extreme life-threatening situations, sending all patients to Stanton for advanced diagnosis and treatment makes good economic sense.
Members see a need to involve the specialists and other medical professionals to determine whether the capacity and skill set exist at Stanton Territorial Hospital to deal with referred patients' medical conditions.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
Members are concerned that the issue of FASD may not have the profile within the government's business plans and main estimates that its devastating effects on the North demand.
There is good work going on in this department. It is actively involved with the Pacific Northwest Partnership in establishing best practices and centres of excellence for research. Social workers and frontline health care workers provide treatment and programs to northerners who may be suffering from the effects of FASD as part of our continuum of care.
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment provides funding and support to the authorities to help all northerners, including those who may suffer from FASD, to get the most out of their educational opportunities. Early childhood development programs can also do a lot to mitigate the long-term consequences of FASD.
The Department of Justice has done groundbreaking work in dealing with cognitively impaired inmates.
A significant portion of our budget is spent dealing with the long-term effects of alcohol abuse as it relates to FASD, Madam Chair. Educational programs are raising awareness, and expectant mothers are much less likely to drink than they were just 20 years ago.
Members have taken this concern to their counterparts on the Accountability and Oversight committee, and there is general support for increasing the profile of FASD in the next business planning cycle.
Territorial Dementia Facility And Long-Term Care Facilities
Recent statistical population projections for the Northwest Territories have indicated a doubling in the number of seniors by the year 2018. The department has acknowledged this will mean an increase in the number of northerners requiring long-term care in facilities like the Joe Greenland Centre in Aklavik, or placement in a dedicated dementia facility.
The Yellowknife Association of Concerned Citizens for Seniors, or YACCS, has done an excellent job in preparing the business case showing the need for a territorial dementia facility, as well as doing some preliminary design work. The members of the standing committee appreciate the work of these dedicated volunteers, and all other people who volunteer at long-term care facilities across the NWT, in addressing the needs of elders.
Members look forward to reviewing the results of the facility review currently underway and note that there may be an opportunity to use some of the new federal funding to address the infrastructure requirements of our long-term care program, including the building of a dedicated dementia facility in the NWT.
Respite Care
As part of any plan to deal with the issue of long-term care in the NWT, committee members see a need to develop respite programs for those caregivers who decide to look after their loved ones at home.
There is a clear need for medical and non-medical respite care. If we cannot offer respite programs, there is a significant possibility that we will end up with these people in our long-term care facilities as the caregivers burn out. For committee members it is a simple matter of pay now or pay more later.
The committee would be interested in the results of the pilot project on respite care that ended in 2004.
There is an opportunity to ramp up a respite care program in the NWT to respond to the needs of our aging population, as well as dealing with the immediate needs of other northern caregivers who may require respite relief.
In closing, Madam Chair, committee members will be looking for evidence of such an approach in the next business planning cycle.
Thank you. That completes the report of the Standing Committee on Social Programs on this department.