Erin Fletcher
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 05/04) - A new Sahtu authority took over responsibility for delivering health services to the region, April 1, but it will be a while still before the new board is fully on its feet.

Work to set up the Sahtu Health and Social Services Authority has been under way for the past two years, but the board of trustees remains to be named, administrative staff hired and a Norman Wells office renovated.

Until now, health services were managed by the Inuvik Health and Social Services Authority.

The new authority will eventually deliver health services to the 2,598 people living in the Sahtu communities -- Deline, Colville Lake, Norman Wells, Tulita and Fort Good Hope.

Rose O'Donnell-King, the Sahtu health authority's chief executive officer, said the authority is just another step to self-government for the region, which has its own school board and government services.

"People are really keen here and have lots of ideas," said O'Donnell-King.

The one-time capital costs -- renovating a building and buying new office equipment -- will cost about $600,000, said Health Minister Michael Miltenberger. The separate administration for Sahtu will cost just over $1 million a year.

The office is expected to be ready for use in the fall.

The annual operating budget of the five health centres and other services have yet to be worked out.

The Inuvik authority will continue to receive the same amount of funding under this new agreement, Miltenberger said. Regional specialists and doctors will continue to work out of Inuvik, although the two doctors originally hired for the Sahtu may eventually be moved, he said.

Sahtu patients will continue to go to hospital in Inuvik or Yellowknife.

Communities get say

The goal of the authority is to give communities a say into how health care is delivered in the region, said Judith Wright-Bird, the interim public administrator.

"We hope it will bring decision making closer to home and will meet the needs of the communities," she said.

She said language services for elders is one of the biggest concerns for the region.

Under the Inuvik authority, elders couldn't always take an escort with them to see doctors at the Inuvik Regional Hospital and there often wasn't an interpreter available to them when they got there, said Wright-Bird.