Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's my understanding that this is a genuine engagement. We do want to verify the numbers with residents of Hay River, and we plan to meet with the town council, the seniors' society, and with the Indigenous organizations. We want to make sure that we haven't overlooked or missed anything that is important to the calculation of these numbers, so I'm going to say this is a genuine way of getting community input into this. I don't know what the end result is, but I also ask the Member to keep an open mind that, in fact, 48 institutional beds may not be the best outcome for the residents of Hay River. Thank you.

I thank the Minister for that answer, and I will keep an open mind on that as I go around with her and listen to the comments and concerns from people in Hay River. One thing that she had mentioned previously, as well, is the catchment area. I realize Fort Providence, Kakisa, and Fort Resolution are in different regions, but the reality is that Hay River is a regional centre. It's a regional centre to Fort Providence, it's a regional centre to Kakisa and to Fort Resolution, and people come in from those communities for a number of reasons.

Right now, I think we have, in our extended facility, four people from Fort Providence and somebody from Fort Smith, Inuvik, and Fort Simpson, as well. We do get people from those areas, so I think that the department has to look at the reality of beyond the Deh Cho region or the South Slave, or whatever, and see what's real; and the real thing out there is that Hay River is a regional centre for the outlying communities. I would ask the Minister: will the Minister look at the reality of the Hay River catchment area, and will they consider that Fort Providence, Kakisa, and Fort Resolution are actually in that area? Because Hay River has doctors. I suspect that, if you have an extended-care facility, it's important to have doctors there. That's the question I have for the Minister.

Of those people who currently live at Woodland Manor, none are from Fort Resolution and none are from Kakisa, but four are from Fort Providence. It turns out that you can be in long-term care in the NWT wherever you want to be in long-term care, so while there are people in Woodland Manor who are not from Hay River, such as the person from Inuvik, and from Fort Smith and from Fort Simpson, likewise, there are people from Hay River who are in long-term care facilities in other parts of the NWT. This is a personal choice that they can make based on where their supports and their families are. Just because you live in Hay River doesn't mean you have to go into long-term care in Hay River. As I say, with respect to the catchment area, the only community that seems to have any residents within the Woodland Manor is Fort Providence, and therefore, four of the 23 are from Fort Providence.

Can the Minister confirm if timely access to a doctor is a consideration when assessing where long-term beds will be located?

The long-term care facilities are located or will be located in hubs where there is a greater medical staff presence and also a greater opportunity to recruit and retain nurses, but a physician is not essential. I think about the long-term care centre in Norman Wells. I don't believe Norman Wells has a doctor, but there is long-term care there. I think it's a nice-to-have rather than a must-have.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.

My vision is that more people will live in their own homes with homecare support than live in long-term care, and in order to achieve that, we need to invest in nurses, personal support workers. We have to evaluate the outcome of the paid community caregiver program and see which resources best fit the needs for people who are trying to age in place. The home and community care study that was tabled about 18 months ago has specific numbers of nurses and personal support workers required to make aging in place work, and there is no budget item for them at this point. It certainly is my expectation that there will be a budget item and there will be a specific number of staff hired to take care of the people who want to age in place. I would refer the Member to the home and community care study to find the detail, and if he finds that that's lacking, by all means ask again. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.