Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I want to point out that, during my constituency visits, I noticed some common themes in terms of gaps in our healthcare system, in particular dealing with the elders and mobility-restricted individuals who needed medical assistance. I am happy my colleague from Deh Cho mentioned helping our elders age in place with dignity, and it kind of follows with what I am about to say.
Mr. Speaker, I want to give this visual to you. If you could picture yourself as an elder in a small community, as an elderly individual who might not have English as a first language, and you have an immediate health issue, and you need to be assessed in your home. If you are in a small community, you will be told you will need a relative or an RCMP officer to get you to the local health centre. This is a problem. What happens if you are in this situation and are unable to call out to emergency services, i.e. an ambulance, or unable to get a hold of a relative to get you to a healthcare centre?
If I could just get you to turn on your headpieces, I want to say a few words in Chipewyan. If you're a nurse and I'm an elder, and I'm in trouble, I tell you, my nurse, "[English translation not available.]" How do you respond to that? It's something to think about. If there is a language barrier there, and that's my other point, that's where I'm going with this, Mr. Speaker, we need to fill some very glaring gaps in our small communities in terms of response for ambulatory services. Some of these issues, in my opinion, can be addressed by easily beefing up homecare and CHR staff.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I want to commend our new health Minister on addressing some of my immediate concerns that she and her staff have already addressed since taking on this new role. However, my constituents do have legitimate concerns that do need answers, and I will have some questions for the health Minister at the appropriate time. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.