I will call committee back to order. Carrying over from yesterday on the Department of Health and Social Services. Does the Minister wish to bring in witnesses?

Yes, please.

Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister Abernethy, would you like to introduce your witnesses for the record, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. With me today on my left is Bruce Cooper, who is the deputy minister of Health and Social Services, and on my right, Jeannie Mathison, who is the director of Finance.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. We have left off and today we're going to start on pages 187 and 188, the Department of Health and Social Services diagnostic and therapeutic services and operations expenditures summary, $26,103,000. We will proceed to questions on these two pages on this activity. Any questions? Recognizing Mr. R.J. Simpson, and next, Mr. Thompson. Proceed, Mr. Simpson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm sorry if this is not the correct section. I hope we don't have a repeat of yesterday, but I see that this is where audiology is contained. I want to make sure that this is the funding that would make the audiologists from Yellowknife to Hay River to perform services, generally for seniors in relation to hearing aids and what not. Is this the correct section?

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Abernethy.

Yes, Mr. Chair, this is the section where audiologists fall under. This is the area that funds them. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Simpson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I see that there's a significant increase in therapeutic services. I wonder if that is going to have an effect on the audiologists and their travel schedule to Hay River. I probably, almost as much as any other issue I hear from seniors, is it's about the audiologists and the frequency of the visits. I believe it's every six months or thereabouts that the audiologists travel to Hay River.

What that means is that, in that interim, often people have issues with their hearing aids and they have no one to help them resolve those issues. Often, these hearing aids just go to the drawer and they're sitting there for a few months. I mean, they are expensive devices, too. These hearing aids are very expensive and we have seniors who can't use them for months on end, which really affects quality of life. I'm hopeful here. I see an increase, so are we going to get more audiologists visits to Hay River? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I hear the Member's concerns and I'll certainly raise those with the department for a discussion moving forward. The increase in this area is for enhanced rehab services for children, which includes a speech language pathologist and occupational therapist, an audiologist, and an admin, but these are designed and being put in place as a result of the Early Childhood Development Action Plan, so not focused on the clients that the Member is referencing. These positions won't necessarily increase the number of trips to Hay River, but I hear the concern. I recognize it. I'll certainly raise it with the board and CEO and the department.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Simpson.

Thank you. I believe there's also a service where people can send in their hearing aids for repair, but from what I've been told, it can take up to months to get them back. What people have started to do is just go south, like they do in Hay River for sorts of medical services, actually. They go south and have their hearing aids fine-tuned in the South. I hear people talk about they go down to Edmonton for the week. They drop their hearing aid off. Somehow it gets either fixed there or sent to Ontario, fixed, and sent back in time for them to pick it up Friday after spending the week there and they head back home. It's possible to have these things expedited. Is that something that the department has identified as an issue? Is the speed or, you know, the time it takes to get these hearing aids fixed when they're sent in? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the situation has been raised with me. I appreciate the Member raising it. I do hear the Member. I will bring these concerns to the department. We'll have a discussion to see what we can do to help our residents who are frustrated by this. I don't have an answer for the Member. I don't know enough to say for sure exactly what timelines are, or those types of things, but I hear the Member's concerns. We will raise them, absolutely.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Simpson.

Thank you. I'll follow up with the Minister so I can get a little more information and let my constituents know what's going on with this issue and let them know that the Minister is actually looking into it. Thank you for the answers, and nothing further. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Moving on, Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In regard to autism and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, where would we find that increase in the budget? I know it is in this area, but where is it? Which line item is it? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is the right section of the budget, and it falls under the line item "therapeutic services." Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that answer. I have to congratulate the department for doing this. I think it is a very good, positive step. So what are the plans for doing this? Is this going to be regionalized, or is this going to be based out of Yellowknife? Thank you, Mr. Chair.