Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Mar 12/99) - A collection of Yellowknife agencies that help people are now officially under one roof, and one board.

The nine-member Yellowknife Health and Social Services Board (YHSSB) is preparing for its first official meeting March 24, marking a new era in the way services will be delivered here.

Home-care services manager Heather Leslie is part of the YHSSB management team.

"The advantage of all this coming together is that we're a group of services that share clients," Leslie said.

"Because we've pulled together, we can assist our clients more completely because we're under one roof." Social services, public health, home care and health promotion and nutrition programs will all be represented by YHSSB.

Metis and Yellowknife Dene First Nations have board members, and for the first time, the area's non-governmental organizations (NGOs) will officially be represented.

"Organizations were essentially separated before. The public had a hard time figuring out how they could contribute," Leslie said.

"The board allows the public a way to input on what programs and services should be offered."

Funded by the territorial government to the tune of $12 million per year, the scope and mandate of the board is wide-ranging.

YHSSB CEO Al Woods said some of the boards immediate concerns will deal with a current lack of services for teenagers. Developing solid information systems to measure program outcomes is also on the agenda.

"All of these issues are being worked on right now," Woods said.

He said the board will be responsible for representing the communities of Yellowknife, Dettah and Ndilo while continuing to serve Nunavut until they develop their own services.

He said training is key to ensuring a smooth start-up process.

"The board itself will be going through an intense development program," Woods said.

"The training will teach board members to govern on a results based model, which ensures they will know how to connect with their constituents and stay focused on the results they set for themselves."

NWT Status of Women Council's executive director, Rosemary Cairns, will represent the diverse group of community-based NGOs as a YHSSB member.

She said by giving NGOs a voice on such an important government board, cooperation between the two bodies will increase.

"I know the NGO sector is pleased they're being recognized with a representative on the board," Cairns said, adding a large proportion of government spending relates to services contracted to NGOs.

"It makes sense. If 75 per cent of the people you work with are from another sector, you have to find ways of involving that sector in planning."

A study was done in July of last year to determine the feasibility of transferring responsibility for health and social services to the city of Yellowknife.

In the end, the city felt clients would be better served if health and social services programs fell under the Territorial Hospital Insurance Services Act. This way, the board is directly responsible to the Minister of Health.

"Part of the challenge will be to find ways to work cooperatively together to achieve our goals," Cairns said.

"I believe people sharing information and talking about the context in which they're working really helps to achieve that by building trust among the people."

Cairns estimates through housing, justice and health and social service organizations alone, there are more than 70 NGOs serving Yellowknife and the surrounding area.

"Being on the board is really a recognition of NGOs importance in the delivery of a whole range of services essential to the well-being of the community," Cairns said.