I didn't hear a question there, but I take the Member's advice and that is one that I share. I will get back to the Member and give him an update on where we are on that program. Thank you.

Thank you. Next on the list is Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just in regards to your line of questioning earlier, I have numerous elders in the communities that I represent. We have Mary Gruben, who we call Little Nanik Evik Ruben. I got a call about a month ago in regards to the way her appliances are set up in her house. Little Nanik Mary is a little person so we have to try to get appliances into her unit like a bathtub, a kitchen, try to help her fix her kitchen, because she lives alone. Right now she has to be helped with everything that is going on with her tub and stuff like that, because I don't know her situation now but the last time I was there, it wasn't set up for a little person. What I am looking for now is if we could, with Health and Social Services and Housing, try and accommodate not only her but other elders in the communities with proper bathtubs and proper appliances to make their lives easier. Thank you.

Minister Lee.

I would be happy to talk to the Member and get the details and get back to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Minister. I look forward to that. In regards to making our elders feel taken care of instead of just put back on the backburner, I have other questions regarding other issues once we go on. Thank you.

Thank you. We are on page 6-4, Health and Social Services, activity summary, health services programs, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $4.174 million. Agreed?

We are moving on to page 6-7, Health and Social Services, activity summary, community health programs, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $800,000.

We are moving on to page 6-10. Mr. Beaulieu.

Sorry, Mr. Chairman. I had actual questions on 6-7. I thought it was 6-8. I didn't put my hand up in time. The areas that...

Mr. Beaulieu, are you requesting to go back to page 6-7?

Yes, Mr. Chairman, I request to go back to page 6-7.

Does committee agree that we go back to page 6-7?

Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For community health programs in the area of capital, I had indicated several times that I was looking for some sort of capital expenditure in Fort Resolution at Our Great Elders Facility. It seems to have more profile in the community. Recently an elder in the community was very sick and eventually passed away. He was being taken care of by the family. The family was first of all appearing in Yellowknife with the elder and also in Hay River with the elder.

I know there are some obstacles that we have to work around in order to do this, but what I was hoping the department would do is put a palliative care unit into Our Great Elders Facility. Right now, the facility can house four elders. It houses no elders. The building is basically now used by the home care group. There are six satellite units around the facility that are being utilized, but essentially utilizes nothing more than public housing with some home care support from the main building. However, at one time the unit was used for people in the community, not necessarily the most elderly, but for people that provided the most assistance, living assistance.

Ultimately, I believe that there's some sort of change in, perhaps, legislation or maybe it's a policy of the department that we're no longer supporting facilities that had less than 10 of this type of bed. I'm not sure of the level of care that the senior is under; however, it is this type of care that was eliminated at that time. I'm not really asking for that care to be brought back into that facility full-fledged, I'm asking that the Department of Health -- and I also recognize that building belongs to the NWT Housing Corporation, it's not a building that belongs to the Department of Health -- but what I'm asking is, there's a palliative care unit in Hay River in the hospital there which is a very good care unit for the last days of individuals and the family is able to be in a very comfortable environment. Also, the majority of the care, even in the palliative care unit in Hay River seems to be provided by the immediate family. This is certainly the case in situations where you have elders that are either unilingual or speak mostly an aboriginal language, and the family comes and talks to them and so on during those times, and also eating mostly country foods so that the family is already preparing the food and so on. This building actually has a facility for the family to prepare the food there on site and they have the room. Everything is there. All that has to happen is to take one of those rooms or two of those rooms and convert it into a palliative care unit. I want to ask the department to look at that possibility.

I think that there are a couple of good initiatives there, no question about it; however, I think that the department should have thought of that when considering that this has been an ongoing issue for two years and perhaps longer.

I don't know if the previous MLA had brought this thing forward to the department, and I'm not, you know, I mean, I recognize that maybe nursing could be an issue; however, there are two local nurses that work in Fort Resolution, there are two or three local nurses that work outside of Fort Resolution, from Fort Resolution, and there's also family support for any time an elder or a person that's very sick is in the palliative care unit. The majority of the support, as I see it, comes from the family. I'd just like to ask the department if they would reconsider this plan and add something in the plan to build a palliative care unit in Our Great Elders Facility in Fort Resolution. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't think the clock was started over as well. Anyway, I'll leave that for my first question.

I'll give you five minutes there. Ms. Lee, Minister of Health.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This issue goes back many, many years and I am aware that there have been a number of reviews done to see the suitability of this facility as a long-term care facility for elders, but I understand that it is not possible to be used that way, the way it was built. It was built by the Housing Corporation and I don't know what happened back then, but it was not built with the planning required to use it as a long-term care facility or even a palliative care.

Mr. Chairman, I do understand what the Member is saying and this is an emerging issue or it is an increasingly important issue and it will become more and more important. I hear everywhere...I got that not only do we want to keep our elders close to home as much as possible, but especially in their last days or last weeks and months.

There are communities that are able to handle this and they are doing it more. Right now, the department is working with the Dene Nation on how to address palliative care in the NWT. I think the findings of that will be helpful.

Specifically to Resolution, I will look at the situation in Resolution again to see what we can do to accommodate an elder who wants to be moved back and receive palliative care. Some elders may be able to spend their last days and weeks in their own homes if there is enough supports there with home care and family support, and some elders may not be able to come back if they need intensive medical care. But there might be other elders that happen once in a while or...I don't think there's enough numbers there to even keep four beds busy, but I think this is something that we need to look at and I will commit to look at what palliative care service can be provided in Resolution. Thank you.

To be fair to Mr. Beaulieu, I'll allow him five minutes on the clock. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, I know that I've abandoned the idea that that building could be used for a long-term care facility. The department's not prepared to make a commitment to hire nurses to run the facility to house four people. So, I mean, that is something that would be good. We have long-term people being housed elsewhere -- Yellowknife, Hay River and Fort Smith -- however, there doesn't seem to be a willingness of the department to look at this or it doesn't seem to be a possibility yet. I don't know, really, what the actual, you know, the obstacle...I just don't see this as something that we cannot get around. But, again, that's not what I'm asking.

What I'm asking for is something that we haven't asked for before, actually, and although it was being put in various ways, Our Great Elders Facility would be an ideal place to build a palliative care unit. Ideal. Like I said, there are four rooms. In Hay River, they took two regular hospital rooms and converted them into one palliative care unit. So there's an area for the family to just sit away from, you now, where their loved one is very sick in one room, and it's a very good unit. I think anybody's whose had to have somebody in the palliative care unit in Hay River will tell you that it's very, very good. It gives the family an opportunity to take care of their loved one.

Now, this individual that I speak of did pass away in the palliative care unit. So it seems to me that there wouldn't be a whole bunch of extra requirements in order to convert this to a palliative care unit. I don't think you'd need more than the complement of nurses that are currently in Fort Resolution. I think that in most cases the elders are taken care of by their family in their last days.

I guess it's okay to look at building a palliative care unit, but I would rather that they built a palliative care unit. Right? Instead of just looking at building a palliative care unit. So, again, I want the department to, I guess, commit or explain to me the obstacle of why they can't build a palliative care unit in Our Great Elders Facility in Fort Resolution. Thank you.

As the Member mentioned, this is the first time that the community has asked this in this way. I know that the issues that we've been dealing with since my time here has been wanting to use the facility as a long-term care facility, elders facility, and my understanding is that the way it's been built does not meet the standards to be a 24-hour care.

Now the Member is asking a different question and I am willing to commit to looking at whether it's possible to have a palliative care unit in that facility and what is required to deliver that. I guess we do need to look more at what we mean by palliative care our elderly will be in. Anybody who's in that palliative care situation have all kinds of different health needs and conditions that need to be addressed and if they can be supported there, we should look at ways to do that. There might be some who may have to get their palliative in the intensive hospital setting, so for those people that would not be possible, but we will look at whether palliative care can be delivered in one of the units there. Thank you.

I thank the Minister for that response. In another area of community health programs I've been trying to figure out how to get handi-vans into the communities of Lutselk'e and Fort Resolution. There are many people that have mobility problems in the communities and some of them have their homes already adjusted by the NWT Housing Corporation to remove the barriers. In other words, constructing some barrier-free or renovating homes to a barrier-free state, to put ramps in and open up the doorways and lower the cabinets and so on and so forth. However, those individuals are having mobility issues outside the home. Earlier, one of the Members indicated that people are housebound. Some of those people are housebound and I can provide some names.

In these communities there are some supports in place where individuals can be picked up by handi-vans, taken to the stores and so on. I've been told that purchase of the handi-vans may be a capital item that falls under the responsibility of the communities. I've been saying in the House that there's not enough money in the capital plans under the New Deal for individuals to pick up what is clearly within the responsibility of the communities, let alone something like this, which I question if it is actually the responsibility of the communities and maybe not the responsibility...I mean, maybe should be the responsibility of Health.

Just for the record, I'd like the Minister to advise me if it's possible that handi-vans can be put into the community health programs capital plan for both communities of Fort Resolution and Lutselk'e and if not, why not.