A plan to set up a nurse practitioner on Tyendinaga Territory has been given the stamp of approval by the regional health authority, the South East Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).
Now, it goes to the Ministry of Health for the final yea or nay.
"This is ministry money, not LHIN money," Paul Huras, executive director of the LHIN, said Monday. Huras was speaking from Prescott, where the LHIN monthly board meeting was held.
Huras said the ministry had forwarded the nurse practitioner proposal -- with its $327,000 price tag over two years -- to the LHIN to see what board members thought of the plan.
"We approved it," Huras said, and now it is being returned to the ministry for the final approval. The money would come from the Aboriginal Health Transitions Fund.
If the plan moves forward, it would see the nurse practitioner (NP) hired to become part of the overall community health team on the reserve.
It could eventually lead to the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte applying for a NP-led clinic on the reserve.
Like most communities in this area, native health care is plagued by a scarcity of family doctors.