Kakisa residents seeking health service in Hay River
Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services
Kakisa (Dec 18/00) - Residents of Kakisa could soon see changes to their medical travel program.
Stanton Regional Hospital administrators met with members of the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Board on Dec. 11 to discuss medical travel benefits.
"For the most part it really amounts to some fine-tuning in terms of how they are accessing medical travel," said Dennis Cleaver, Stanton's Chief Executive Officer.
In the past Kakisa residents travelled to Fort Providence for medical treatment. Now, the Deh Cho health board hopes to access medical services at the H.H. Williams Memorial Hospital in Hay River as well.
Stanton's health board pays for medical travel benefits for all NWT communities except Inuvik and Fort Smith, which have their own programs. Stanton approves all medical travel, arranges for the medical treatment, and pays for all medically insured services. Those services include transportation, accomodations, an escourt and interpreter services.
Stanton's budget allocates funds for emergency and scheduled medical travel and boarding homes, which amounts to as much as $7 million a year.
Kathy Tsetso, CEO for the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Board, will meet with the Hay River Community Health Board to discuss how the needs of Kakisa residents can be better met.
"Stanton will then develop an easy-to-read flow chart which speaks to the medical travel approval and payment process. Then that way, people in Kakisa can easily see what the steps are," said Cleaver.
However, Kakisa residents are fairly healthy and do not often use the medical travel benefits program, said Cleaver.
