Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister and his colleagues for coming here today and presenting the Department of Health and Social Services' budget, which to me looks pretty good. I'm really happy that there are a lot of extra dollars going into a lot of really much needed initiatives like the home care programs, and addictions services and mental health services here in the NWT, and especially the community health programs where it's really needed right where it counts most.
I'm not going to talk about all the issues that all the other Members have already raised. I lot of them were on my list, but I just want to let the Minister in on some information that I received from my constituency about the health and social services authorities and the accountability that the authorities have, especially with my Tu Nedhe constituents who have to operate under the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority in which they get one board representative to sit on that authority from each community, which always seems to be an issue with the First Nations in Lutselk'e and Deninu Kue with respect to getting some issues and concerns dealt with by the authority. There's always the issue of just not really giving enough attention, I guess, to the small communities by the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority. I can understand their workload in Yellowknife is a lot more demanding than what they experience from Lutselk'e or Deninu Kue. So I just want to put that on the Minister's radar screen, that I think the health authorities in the NWT have to be made accountable to the residents that they do have authority over and the health services that they deliver in those regions. I'd just like to see some mechanisms put in place, or an evaluation maybe done on a yearly basis of how the authority ranks amongst the population that it is there to serve.
Just with the community health nurses and the challenges that they face on that area, I know that there's still a long way to go before we can get some real nurses that are willing to stay in the communities for extended periods of time, and that's a big challenge here in the NWT and I have to commend the department for spearheading and putting in more emphasis into the nurse practitioner program and support towards those students that wish to pursue that career.
Just on the issue of homelessness, I guess, just talking with some community members in the last two weeks with respect to the amount of rental officer eviction notices that have gone out of late in all these communities. I am sure it has happened across the NWT, so we might have a big homelessness crisis on our hands, you never know, in the next couple of months. It's good to see there is money going into that program, because housing evictions are on the rise with the arrears that are also on the rise and the LHOs can no longer just sit back and build on their arrears. They are actually taking some action which could result in increased homelessness in the smaller communities.
Also, one thing that I did not notice, I guess, in both the Social Programs' review and the department's review, is more money going toward actually providing better, I shouldn't say better, more accommodating health services for seniors especially in our hospitals. Like I mentioned last week to the Minister of Health on the condition that some of these seniors have to live in while undergoing extensive real life-threatening operations, then only to pull through the operation and then eventually die in the hospital because of pneumonia. I would like to see more money being put towards hospital O and M to provide more heat in a seniors' ward perhaps, or actually just provide seniors with better blankets. I know the issue of laundry is always a big factor when it comes to the bigger blankets and better blankets. It's always easier to wash the linen and the cotton that they do provide in the hospitals.
I really think that has to be something either in the Stanton or in the larger regional centres. There has to be maybe a ward cordoned off or a ward set aside for seniors only where there is adequate heat and where you just don't have the 200-pound solid wood core doors that they can barely open and maybe they can offer traditional food as opposed to store bought food to the seniors who seem to bounce back a lot quicker on the traditional diet, and maybe have some interpreter services readily available for seniors also, and more barrier-free access to and from this ward for any senior in a wheelchair and such.
I just wanted to let the Minister know that that is an area that is going to become more important in the Health and Social Services envelope over the next five to 10 years. It's going to come to the front of our medical health service delivery over the next 10 years when a lot more seniors are going to be coming onboard to ask for more programs and services.
Just with home care programs in the communities, I know my community of Deninu Kue has a really good Home Care Program on the go now and they were looking to expand on it, but of course there was always a lack of funding on how they could provide more services to seniors who are actually living in their own homes and independently. I know there is more money going into those programs also, but it's also a nominal amount that
would probably cover more things like forced growth and not really improve the service per se. I would just like to maybe let them know that we should start thinking about more independent living programs, Meals on Wheels in the smaller communities perhaps and nurses visiting the homes of these elders.
Just getting back to what the Minister had mentioned about an incident in Deline which lead a lot of seniors to stay away from the facility, I am not sure if he's aware, but recently we had an incident in Deninu Kue in our regional health centre there, which now some nurses who travel there refuse to stay in the health facility. I know there is no residents in the community that would want to spend any time in the facility overnight and we did have a nurse there that was working in Fort Res and she had an incident one night where she heard doors slamming and noise happening and she went to investigate and she didn't find anything or see anything. She heard more noises and they eventually kind of got to her and she went racing out the door only to find -- she said in her own words -- somebody grabbed her from behind in her hair and pulled her right back into the nurses' centre. Of course, there was nobody there so that really flipped her right out. She got medevaced here to the Stanton psychiatric ward. People were saying it's not really the nurse. She's back there now. They are not saying it was her or a psychotic lapse on her part, but there was some history in the location of that hospital. That health centre in Deninu Kue is actually located overtop an old gravesite where the old mission hospital used to be about 100 years ago. They had a graveyard right next to the hospital. This is where they put this new health centre. That's why you never get any seniors who are going to set foot in there or stay there overnight. I would even challenge the Minister to stay a night by himself over there and see what he runs into.
---Laughter
The chief has mentioned to me that I should approach the Department of Health and Social Services to consider either moving the facility or constructing a new health centre in Deninu Kue, because the one we have there is over 30 years old now and we are putting money into some minor renovations every now and then. People think that it just shouldn't be where it is. Given that Fort Res is one of the oldest communities in the NWT, there is a lot of history there and a lot of myths and old stories around about what used to go on in the old hospital.
I just wanted to put that on the Minister's radar screen for the next upcoming year, in the transition document, for the next government that they should perhaps consider moving it or relocating the delivery of the programs in that community.
With that again, maybe stuff like a medical travel hotline, as I mentioned before, should be something that Health and Social Services should consider having where people get stuck at the airport, they don't know who to contact, they don't know how to get home, the ticket is not there, there is no money for them to make a call, there is no money for them to take a cab back. I get a lot of calls from people who get stuck in the airports just because their travel arrangements have either been changed or they have been misinformed or something has changed that they weren't aware of.
Other than that, to say the least, I am happy with what the department is proposing with this new health budget. I am glad to see that they are moving money into areas where it's most needed and will probably be most useful. I am looking forward to a little more detail in a lot of these spending areas. With that, a lot of other Members have answered a lot of my questions already. I will just leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.