Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Medevacs for our elders in the communities. Travel saves lives through the medevac system. I am sure that not one person in the NWT does not appreciate the emergency medical services provided by in-flight services.
We worry about our elders when they are taken by medevac to large hospitals. We know that they will receive the immediate medical care that they need, but we also know that, on top of the pain, the worry, they have to be disorientated, anxious, lonely. They may get confused about what is expected of them to do. The hospitals in Inuvik and Yellowknife are huge compared to our community health centres or even Inuvik. It's critical that our elders have someone to take with them during this medical travel. Lately, an elder was medevaced to Yellowknife in the early evening out of Tuktoyaktuk. The family decided that here nephew would accompany her. The elder was admitted into the hospital, and the young man had no place to stay here.
Mr. Speaker, Tuktoyaktuk does not have a doctor so, if the elders need to leave their home community to receive medical treatment, then we need to have them escorted, also out of Sachs Harbour, Ulukhaktok, and Paulatuk. We need escorts for our elders to take proper care of them and to make sure that, if they need a translator, the nephew or niece are there to translate for them, so we need help with that. I will have questions for the health Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you.