BEAUFORT DELTA - Paddy Meade, the deputy minister of Health and Social Services, will be wearing two hats following Health Minister Sandy Lee's announcement that Meade will take on the role of the Beaufort Delta health authority's public administrator, replacing the previous board of directors.

Meade told News/North her first order of business will be to familiarize herself with how the authority is functioning - including looking at the books and examining communities' concerns. She said the health authority is operating at a deficit, with the territorial government financing the payroll.

She said the decision to suspend the board was an accumulation of issues, including the cash flow and access problems.

"When deficits and casuals get to a certain point, and there have been bailouts, you don't have a lot of options," she said. "In fairness to the board, health is a very complex, high risk industry and being the accountability body for that to the government is pretty comprehensive. It's a huge task."

Meade said the duration of her term will depend on outcomes.

"It's not something that has to be forever. The issue is what we can do here, and then the minister and government makes decisions."

She was quick to absolve health bombardments of responsibility for the change.

"My job is to work with (the authority) for accountabilities, the risk, where we can make the savings and increase access," Meade said.

She said she's going to look for ways to offer services in the region more effectively, which could mean shifting services being done at Stanton Territorial Hospital to Inuvik or creating mobile teams.

Being deputy minister could be an advantage in her new role, Meade said.

"In particular, when you're trying to see where it fits into the system and what are some innovations and opportunities ... I'm already dealing with the whole system and the pressures."

David Krutko, MLA for the Mackenzie Delta, said he's been advocating for change in the health authority for years.

"We have community services that aren't provided, and yet we're being told there's no money for this, or that, addictions services, a social worker for Tsiigehtchic, nurses, core programs and services for communities," he said. "It boggles my mind how we're giving them money to run services and they're not able to provide essential programs and services in all communities."

He hopes Meade's appointment will clear up why the authority is running a deficit and make it function more effectively.

"At the end of the day, you have to find out where the money is going," he said. "Sometimes there's a need for somebody to go in and look at it from a different lens, a different perspective. We've had people in the system running it for so long, for them it may seem right, but it's a means test to see why the system isn't working. Why is it that other communities aren't running a deficit?"

While Meade came to Inuvik last week to meet with senior management at the hospital, she won't be keeping an office in the region and returned to Yellowknife the following day. But she'll be balancing her duties as deputy and public administrator by making use of teleconferencing and making routine trips. She plans to return in mid-June and begin visiting communities.