Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m going to be supporting this motion. I’ve heard a lot of the conversation. I’ve heard the responses from the department. At the end of the day, given our increasing costs and challenges around medical travel, I honestly believe Telehealth is going to be one of our solutions. It may not be utilized to the degree it should be now, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. I hear the department saying, basically, There are other people to run the equipment; we don’t need those people anymore.
Eighty per cent or more of the Telehealth that’s going on right now is going through Stanton. To take somebody out of Stanton who’s a dedicated champion — and I mean champion — somebody who can get out there and work with the doctors and nurses and provide training and encourage and motivate individuals to use this equipment…. The equipment will not be used to the degree and the extent that it should.
I understand there’s somebody in the department. You’ve said it over and over again — that that position is more of a territorial coordinator responsible for trying to get the infrastructure and technology out to the territory as a whole, getting it into the communities, encouraging and motivating organizations such as the RNANTNU as well as the Medical Association to buy into the product. It is a valuable position as well. But at the end of the day, you need a champion on-site in Stanton, where turnover among staff — nurses, doctors, PTs, OTs, all those types of positions who can and should be utilizing the equipment — is high. You need to ensure they are trained, prepared and understand the benefits and value that such equipment and technology will provide. Without that on-site champion where, once again, 80 per cent or more of the Telehealth occurs, it will peter out. It will not have the strength, and it will not have the effect.
Currently out there, there are all sorts of things running through Stanton and the Telehealth unit. We’re doing discharge planning. We’re doing mental health consults. We’re doing physiotherapy consults. We’re doing physiotherapy follow-ups, occupational health and therapy consults and follow-ups, perinatal consults, genetic counselling, pediatric home nutrition support. We’re doing pediatric surgery follow-ups. We’re doing patient diabetes education consults and follow-up, family visitations, family meetings, clinics, consults with physicians.
There is a significant amount of training. Some of the associations who are out there are working with our champion on-site to coordinate training for associations — the Physiotherapy Association,
the
nursing association,
the stork program, which is
being delivered in many of the other authorities and hospitals around the Territories. They are working with the champion we have at Stanton to ensure the equipment is up and running. There are meetings going on; there are educational opportunities that exist. All of these things need somebody to help all these lay people use this equipment efficiently and effectively.
I’m supporting this motion because I believe getting rid of the champion at Stanton, who should be supporting the entire southern half of the Northwest Territories.... We’ve already agreed this is an important position, and you have reinstated the position in Inuvik to take care of the northern part of the territory, to do similar things to what I’ve just described. To leave the southern half of the territory hanging without a champion who could provide the training, ensure the equipment at Stanton is up and running and support those people in other communities and other hospitals around the territory is a bit short-sighted, I believe. That’s why I’ll be supporting this motion. I think we need to keep our champions. I think we need to ensure we’re using this more than we’re currently using it and thereby reduce some of our medical travel costs.