Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services announced plans and is already taking steps to more than double the amount of long-term care beds available in the territory. Given that we are still in the early stages of this massive expansion, now is an opportune time for us to re-examine our fundamental notion about long-term care so that we can develop and implement best practices, cultivate the appropriate institutional culture, and design facilities to help us realize this vision.
There is already much agreement on what basic long-term care should provide; shelter, meals, ensuring prescribed medication is taken, assistance with physical tasks such as bathing, if necessary, and so on. However, to achieve and maintain positive mental health and a sense of well-being, people require more than just the basics. People need companionship. They need to be engaged in activities that they find entertaining and meaningful, and they need to feel like they are part of a community.
To be clear, Mr. Speaker, I know that many staff in the long-term care facilities are doing these exact things right now, and I appreciate all of their efforts. I can't emphasize that enough. I know that the residents appreciate them, as well. However, the work they do is confined by the system in which they work, a system designed around the overarching notion that, as long as physical needs are being met, the system is doing its job.
We need to decide if we want to expand that idea and put mental well-being on equal footing with physical well-being so that we can ensure residents in long-term care have the opportunity to lead fulfilling lives.
For some, family members provide this opportunity. However, it is quite common for people in care to not have nearby family for a variety of reasons. Some long-term care residents have had to relocate from other communities. There are also many in care who moved to the NWT decades ago for work. The one or two children they had have left the territory, and their spouses passed on. These people, most of whom have limited mobility and limited means, are at the mercy of the system. If the system doesn't provide opportunities for them to live fulfilling lives, no one will.
I raise these concerns with the Assembly because my constituents in long-term care raised them with me. I am concerned about the toll it takes on their mental health, and I am gravely concerned that, in our rush to supply more beds, unless we turn our minds to this issue, the proposed 48- and 72-bed facilities could turn out to be more like warehouses than care facilities.
I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.