Browsing by Author "Henderson, Rita Isabel"

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    Moving the Agenda Forward Together: Innovating Indigenous Primary Care in Alberta, Strategic Event Report 2016
    (2016) Henderson, Rita Isabel; Crowshoe, Lynden (Lindsay); Montesanti, Stephanie; Leduc, Charles
    Practitioners, policy-makers, and planners in Alberta note that quality primary care for Indigenous people is undermined by significant structural gaps and deficiencies. In spite of some recent innovations, Alberta seems to lag behind similar jurisdictions, such as Ontario and British Columbia, in mobilizing structures to improve primary care delivery that is culturally safe, acceptable and equitable for Indigenous people. In January 2016, the University of Calgary’s Department of Family Medicine in the Cumming School of Medicine convened Indigenous community members and leaders, as well as provincial health system leaders, primary care practitioners and researchers near Calgary, Alberta to share and explore these barriers. The aim was to optimize the potential for creative change stirred in the province following provincial and federal elections in 2015 that shifted policy landscapes. This report highlights innovations shared from other jurisdictions in Canada, and the opportunities that these innovations present to the Alberta context. The event convened 65 Alberta-based stakeholders, with guest presenters from across Canada, from the: Vancouver Native Health Society (VNHS); Tui’kn Partnership in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; and Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay (CBHSSJB), Quebec. In small groups, presenters provided overviews of innovations in primary care developed by their organizations, including big picture strategies, and barriers/facilitators to innovation. Small group participants then reflected and explored how such innovations might make sense or be translated into Alberta’s diverse Indigenous contexts. Guest speakers and facilitators from Alberta Health Services (AHS), Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Siksika Health Services, and the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada (IPAC) helped to integrate knowledge and experiences shared. The models presented were broadly grouped into urban, reserve, and system-level innovations. A physician lead and Elder from the VNHS presented their agency’s VIP Elder program that offers spiritual and emotional support to interested clientele; the health director from Eskasoni First Nation’s health centre shared the story of forging the Tui’kn Partnership with neighbouring communities for ownership and control of health data for improved care; and a lead physician gave an overview of the CBHSSJB’s life-cycle approach structuring all aspects of care.
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    Social Accountability of Medical Schools to Indigenous Students: A Critical Qualitative Analysis of Trainee Experiences in Western Canadian Institutions
    (2020-09-25) Ward, Rachel; Henderson, Rita Isabel; Crowshoe, Lindsay; Haines-Saah, Rebecca J.; Cooke, Lara J.
    As medical schools increasingly aspire towards diverse student bodies, external directives such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada’s Calls to Action may guide efforts to achieve Indigenous inclusion. This research focuses primarily on call to action number 23, in which all levels of government (and presumably bodies funded by these) are compelled to increase the number of Indigenous health care professionals in Canada. This study begins by noting that simply increasing the number of Indigenous medical students via recruitment would be an unsatisfactory response; dilemmas around retention challenge institutions to grapple with how inclusion of diverse students may be accomplished, and preparation for successful careers ensured. In order to address these challenges, this qualitative research gains insight from three Indigenous medical students and four Indigenous physicians, exploring their time as medical students and in particular the barriers and facilitators to success they experienced as learners. Data was collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews carried out with each participant, and were analyzed using coding strategies informed by grounded theory. The findings indicate participants faced barriers to success due to the colonial legacy of institutions, including structural violence, reported to most prominently be experienced as racism. Institutional efforts to diversify student bodies were characterized as superficial if focused narrowly on simply increasing the numbers of admitted Indigenous trainees, without institutional changes for inclusion. Lack of broader efforts for inclusion played out in personal experiences among the current and former trainees, for instance in fearing judgement from others within medical schooling should one self-identify as Indigenous. Success was found in connecting with other Indigenous people in medical schools. Physical spaces on campuses were noted to facilitate such connection. Important to participants were efforts to increase the capacity to address racism towards all people within medical schools. As medical institutions aspire to acknowledge historic wrongs through Indigenous inclusion, they contribute to the underlying intention of closing gaps in health outcomes between populations in Canada. This opens opportunities for inclusion of Indigenous ways of healing and understandings of wellness as central to achieving health equity.