Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, with regard to the concerns about long-term care, those are legitimate concerns and in the report dealing with facilities, we looked at the demographic projections and it is clear that there is going to be a need for additional spaces over time. We've looked at the numbers in all the communities, which is why we've tried to come up with some benchmarks. We're also recognizing that there's a need to make the facilities that are now in existence more user friendly for those people suffering from cognitive impairment and dementia, and we've tried to lay out a plan and the projected needs in this document. That document will be, of course, subject to ongoing review should the demand change.
For example, the Member has mentioned Fort Simpson, and I know that in my community, as well, at one point there was under usage of the long-term care and there is now a waiting list and I think nearly every community is facing the same situation. We know that in Yellowknife, with being the largest community with the biggest population and being a magnet community, it's facing those pressures as well, along with other communities. So we also are trying to look at ways as part of the plan, not only looking at the long-term care side, but to try to improve the homecare and home support so that we can assist people to stay in their own homes as long as possible and not necessitate the premature use of a long-term care bed, if there were those kind of support services available. So we're trying to come up with a full-spectrum level of service to try to deal with this issue.
With regard to the alcohol and drug practices, the Member touches on a very critical point and it's a source of philosophical debate or service debate of where is it best to focus our resources. Is it best to focus it on building $5 million or $10 million or $15 million worth of facilities? Is it best to follow out the plan that was laid out three years ago to put in community wellness workers and mental health and addictions counsellors at the community level, and make the serious effort to deal with families and individuals in their community using the treatment resources we have available, looking at beefing up the treatment or detox services we provide, an enhanced relationship with the Salvation Army possibly, and then continuing to focus at the community level?
There are schools of thought. The information I've seen, I've made reference to a document done by the National Aboriginal Health Organization, which is a fairly comprehensive review of northern services where they do a survey of literature and their suggestion is that the focus is best if you can put the majority of your efforts into the community level and focus on dealing with individuals and families. I was just at a workshop with Dr. Nordli from an Alberta hospital, who is an addictions doctor, and she made the same case in her practice. She was in Fort Smith last weekend and I went to a workshop with her there and she had the same suggestion.
So it is an issue of discussion and we know there's a concern that facilities be built, but the numbers we have tell us that Natse' Ejee K'eh could be better used, that our numbers of southern placements are relatively small. Before we say yes, we should build facilities, we should do a needs assessment and look at the analysis so that we could all make the best determination in terms of the projected numbers and the usage and the demand for that type of care, as opposed to spending those dollars in
other areas before we issue instruction that we're going to spend many millions of dollars on both capital and operations and maintenance. Thank you.