ABORIGINALHEALTHHUMANRESOURCESINITIATIVE …fnhc.ca/pdf/AHHRI_Gathering_Report_2009.pdf ·...

ABORIGINALHEALTHHUMANRESOURCESINITIATIVEREPORTOFTHEBCPOST-SECONDARYINSTITUTIONGATHERING2009UBCHouseofLearningMarch11–12/2009

Hosted by the FIRST NATIONS HEALTH COUNCIL

Funded by Health Canada

First Nations Health Council

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The First Nations Health Council would like to thank and acknowledge:

• Chief Larry Grant from the Musqueam First Nation for conducting the prayers for each day of the Gathering

• Francine Burning from the UBC First Nations House of Learning for the Sty-Wet-Tan welcoming and for explaining the meaning and significance of the totems in the House of Learning, and for the closing prayer

• Salishan Catering for providing the wonderful food for the Gathering

• Mara Andrews and Carla Te Hau from Kahui Tautoko Consulting Ltd in Vancouver, for facilitating this Gathering, note-taking and producing this report.

AHHRI Gathering: UBC March 2009

TableofContents

1BACKGROUND............................................................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Purpose of the Gathering .............................................................................................................................................. 11.2 AHHRI Background ........................................................................................................................................................ 11.3 National AHHRI Goals.....................................................................................................................................................11.4 Tranformative Change Accord: First Nations Health Plan (Health Human Resource Goals)...........................................2

2PLENARYSESSION......................................................................................................................................................... 3

2.1 Health Canada Tripartite First Nations Health Plan & AHHRI Linkage ........................................................................... 32.2 Aboriginal Health Human Resources Initiative (AHHRI) ................................................................................................ 32.3 First Nations Public Service Initiative & BC Aboriginal Post Secondary Education and Training MOU ..........................4

3DAY1:CURRICULUM/CULTURALCOMPETENCYPROJECTS........................................................................................... 5

3.1 CAPILANO UNIVERSITY: HSRC Curriculum Evaluation and Revision ............................................................................... 53.2 DOUGLAS COLLEGE: Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Careers .................................................................................. 53.3 NORTHWEST COMMUNITY COLLEGE: Development of First Nation HSRCA Program for 3 remote northwest First Nation communities ...............................63.4 LANGARA COLLEGE: Development of supportive and culturally appropriate strategies to facilitate the recruitment and retention of Aboriginal nursing students ......................................................................................................................................... 133.5 NORTHWEST COMMUNITY COLLEGE– Development of FN HSRCA Access to Practical nurse program in remote northwest.................................................143.6 UBC – Learning Circles: Embracing Community Solutions ........................................................................................... 143.7 UBC – Expanding Aboriginal Health Knowledge in Communities and in Educating Future Health Care Professionals ............................................................................................................... 16

4DAY1:RECRUITMENTANDRETENTIONPROJECTS....................................................................................................... 18

4.1 NUU-CHAH-NULTH TRIBAL COUNCIL: Vancouver Island Centre of excellence for Aboriginal Nursing ........................184.2 UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA – Blossoming connections: bridging into the health sciences through orientation, study skills and mentoring ....................................................................................................................... 184.3 COLLEGE OF NEW CALEDONIA: Aboriginal Health Sciences Access program .............................................................. 194.4 CAMOSUN COLLEGE: Road to Success ........................................................................................................................ 20

5BRIDGING................................................................................................................................................................... 21

5.1 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY– Preparation for Health Careers in Aboriginal communities ..........................................215.2 COLLEGE OF THE ROCKIES: Aboriginal Bridge to Health and Technology program ..................................................... 235.3 THOMPSON RIVER UNIVERSITY – Collaborating for success ....................................................................................... 245.4 VANCOUVER ISLAND UNIVERSITY / NORTH ISLAND COLLEGE / NUU-CHAH-NULTH – Health and Wellness in Aboriginal Communities ........................................................................................................ 25

6AHHRIENVIRONMENTALSCAN2009REPORT............................................................................................................. 27

7DAY2:CURRICULUMPROJECTS.................................................................................................................................. 28

7.1 UBC: Aboriginal Health and Community Administration Program: Laddering in the Health Sciences ........................287.2 UBC OKANAGAN: First Nations curriculum development project 2008-2011 ............................................................. 287.3 COLLEGE OF THE ROCKIES – Aboriginal Health Curriculum and Laddering ................................................................. 29

8DAY2:RECRUITMENTANDRETENTIONPROJECTS...................................................................................................... 31

8.1 UBC: DIVISION OF ABORIGINAL PEOPLES HEALTH: Aboriginals in Medicine Enhancement & Development Program ............................................................................... 318.2 THOMPSON RIVERS UNIVERSITY: Increasing Enrolment and Access for Aboriginal Students .....................................32

9WORLDCAFÉ.............................................................................................................................................................. 33

9.1 Introduction Session: Plenary Panel ............................................................................................................................ 339.2 Group One: How can we facilitate further sharing of information? ............................................................................ 349.3 Group Two: What role can Federal / Provincial Governments play? ........................................................................... 349.4 Group Three: How can the results of these projects maintain sustainability? ............................................................ 35


10APPENDICES............................................................................................................................................................. 36

10.1 Appendix 1: Greeting Letter to AHHRI Recipients ..................................................................................................... 3610.2 Appendix 2: Gathering Goals and Outcomes ............................................................................................................. 3610.3 Appendix 3: Gathering Agenda .................................................................................................................................. 37

10.4 Appendix 4: Health Canada Tripartite First Nations Health Plan & AHHRI Linkage ................................................... 3710.4 Appendix 3: Capilano University ................................................................................................................................ 3910.5 Appendix 4: Douglas College ..................................................................................................................................... 3910.6 Appendix 5: Northwest Community College ............................................................................................................. 3910.7 Appendix 6: Langara College ..................................................................................................................................... 3910.8 Appendix 7: Northwest Community College ............................................................................................................. 3910.9 Appendix 8: UBC ........................................................................................................................................................ 3910.10 Appendix 9: UBC ........................................................................................................................................................ 3910.11 Appendix 10: College of New Caledonia ................................................................................................................... 4010.12 Appendix 11: Camosun College ................................................................................................................................. 4010.13 Appendix 12: Simon Fraser University ....................................................................................................................... 4010.14 Appendix 13: College of the Rockies ......................................................................................................................... 4010.15 Appendix 14: Thompson River University ................................................................................................................. 4010.16 Appendix 15: Vancouver Island University ................................................................................................................ 4010.17 Appendix 16: Kahui Tautoko Consulting Ltd .............................................................................................................. 4010.18 Appendix 17: UBC ...................................................................................................................................................... 4010.19 Appendix 18: UBC Okanagan ..................................................................................................................................... 4010.20 Appendix 19: College of the Rockies ......................................................................................................................... 4110.21 Appendix 20: UBC ...................................................................................................................................................... 4110.22 Appendix 21: Thompson River University ................................................................................................................. 4110.23 Appendix 22: Kwantlen University............................................................................................................................. 41


serving First Nations people on and off reserve. These strategies will respond to the current, new and emerging health service issues and priorities, and also increase the level of cultural safety for First Nations clients/patients while under the care of health care providers.

The Federal, Provincial and Territorial Governments agreed to work collaboratively with First Nations, Inuit and Métis and created the First Ministers Meeting Health Accord of 2003. This objective is to advance a health care system that would improve health services, and close the gap in health status with the rest of the Canadian population. This was followed by an agreement at the Special Meeting of the First Ministers and First Nations, Inuit and Métis Leaders in September 2004. By 2005, a Federal budget secured funding of over $100million over five years (2005-2010) for new Federal investments in First Nations, Inuit and Métis health human resources through Health Canada First Nations and Inuit Health.

1.3 NationalAHHRIGoalsTo increase awareness of First Nations, Inuit and Métis

youth about health careers and increase the number of students entering into, and succeeding in health career studies;

To increase the number of post-secondary educational institutions that are supportive of Aboriginal students pursuing health career studies;

To identify the conditions conducive to the retention of First Nations, Inuit and Métis health care workers, and non-Aboriginal health care workers working in First Nations and Inuit communities;

To establish standards of practice and certification for community-based paraprofessional health care workers.

1 BACKGROUND1.1 PurposeoftheGatheringThe purpose of the Gathering was to allow British Columbia’s (BC) post-secondary institutions who had received Aboriginal Health Human Resource Initiative funding to:

1. Share their stories and highlight potential promising practices;

2. Examine opportunities, challenges and solutions; 3. Discuss how the achievements can be sustained.

The specific goal of the First Nations Health Council (FNHC) was to provide an opportunity for post-secondary institutions to build collaborative relationships, and to learn from the expertise and experience of the project teams.

The AHHRI program invested approximately $4.5 Million over 3 years to 16 different public post-secondary educational institutions across BC, including one community. Funding was provided for Curriculum Development; Recruitment and Retention Strategies (e.g. summer institutes, mentoring and study skill development); and the Development of Bridging and Laddering programs.

This AHHRI Gathering brought together for the first time, the AHHRI recipients to enable them to share their experiences in establishing and operating these projects, and to allow them to discuss challenges and solutions.

1.2 AHHRIBackground

The shortage of health care workers is a national and international issue, but the shortage is particularly acute for First Nations and Inuit communities. Additionally, Aboriginal people are under-represented in all health care fields, compared to the general population. With a supply and demand disparity, care takers serving First Nations on / off reserve in BC experience increasing stress as they react to population health burdens and a health care system that struggles to meet health human resource (HHR) needs.

Through the AHHRI, the Transformative Change Accord – First Nations Health Plan (TCA-FNHP) and the Tripartite First Nations Health Plan (TFNHP), strategies will endeavor to provide the right balance and numbers of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal health care providers

1

1


1.4 TransformativeChangeAccord:FirstNationsHealthPlanHHRGoals:

EducationDedicated post-secondary seats to Aboriginal health professions in order to increase the number of trained aboriginal health care providers; Partnership between post-secondary institutions and aboriginal communities in order to improve access, participation and success of Aboriginal learners in post-secondary health care programs.

OrganizationalCapacityFirst Nations and the province will develop a curriculum for cultural competency in 2007/08, and require health authorities to begin this training in 2008/09. Training will be mandatory for Ministry of Health and health authority staff. Within each Health Service Delivery Areas (16) a senior person will be responsible for working with local program and service staff on behalf of First Nations to better meet the non-hospital health service needs of Aboriginal people.

RecruitmentandRetentionFurther development of the Nurse Practitioner role and scope of practice and enhanced physician participation in Aboriginal health and healing centers; Each regional health authority will increase the number of professional and skilled trades First Nations in health professions by identifying emerging employment opportunities; Health authorities will increase the number of Aboriginal Hospital Liaison staff.

2


2 PLENARYSESSION2.1 HealthCanadaTripartiteFirst

NationsHealthPlan&AHHRILinkage

Presentedby:DerekLeung,HealthCanada

Powerpoint: SeeAppendix4

Derek advised that he was the AHHRI Coordinator for Health Canada in BC. His presentation covered:

• Aboriginal population statistics in BC • Key indicators of health status from the Tripartite

Health Plan including the fact that life expectancy rates are lower for First Nations than for the general population

• Population profile showing that BC’s First Nations population is younger than the general population (almost 50% of the FN population being under 24 years)

• The Tripartite FN health plan and why it was important to act on the range of issues facing First Nations communities in health

• One of the four key areas (Governance, Health Promotion, Health Services and Measuring progress) was particularly relevant to the AHHRI Program and that is monitoring progress. Derek reiterated that it was vital to keep growing the Aboriginal workforce and to increase the number of health professional’s right across the system.

2.2 AboriginalHealthHumanResourcesInitiative(AHHRI)

Presentedby:TrishOsterberg–FirstNationsHealthCouncil

Powerpoint: None presented

Trish advised that she had been the AHHRI Coordinator since 2007, although when she started she was working for the FN Chiefs Health Committee which was the fore-runner to the First Nations Health Council (FNHC). The First Nations Health Council is one of several Councils focusing on specific issues, sitting under the First Nations Leadership Council. The First Nation Health Council has 38 employees now.

Trish explained what was in the package, which attendees had received, included a copy of the Bi-Lateral Health Plan and the Tripartite MOU, the program and information on the

First Nations Health Council.

Trish advised that a preliminary scan of the Aboriginal Health Human Resource was done in 2007 but covered only 53 communities, so the data was incomplete. This scan showed that health care professionals felt overworked and under-valued, and that communities faced lots of challenges in employing FN medical staff.Trish advised that the FNHC was is promoting health careers to FN students and they are 2 designated staff of the FNHC who travel all over BC to FN heatlh and education fairs promoting the different careers which students can strive for in the health sector. A health careers booklet has been developed which promotes not just medical professions but others such as dentistry, optometry, radiology and many other roles. Data shows that in 2007 there were 309 Aboriginal students in BC studying in health programs and that 31 medical students have graduated. In BC AHHRI has contributed $1.2 million to post-secondary schools across BC.

Trish advised that Kahui Tautoko Consulting have been commissioned to update the 2007 Environmental Scan and aim to capture better data on the status of the workforce in First Nations communities. They have also completed a Literature Review of indigenous Health Human Resource initiatives in Australia, New Zealand and the US, as well as held focus groups with students and communities. She has asked Mara Andrews to present some of this information later in the day.

Other issues raised in the previous scan that were highlighted included the need for:• a continuing care program for workers• a multimedia campaign for youth to consider health

careers• more collaborative programs with other agencies and

bridging the gap between educational institutions and health institutions

• greater commitment from elected leaders in communities for support of health human resource development

• Institutions providing the right environment for FN staff• More funding for bursary students• More housing for students – accommodation is a big

issue

Trish thanked all participants for attending and being willing to share their information and hoped that everyone gained benefit from the two days of information sharing.

2

3


2.3 FirstNationsPublicServiceInitiative&BCAboriginalPostSecondaryEducationandTrainingMOUPresentedby:ChristaWilliams–FirstNationsLeadershipCouncil

Powerpoint:Nonepresented

Christa advised that she had worked for FNESC – the First Nations Education Steering Committee for many years and therefore she had a very strong educational background. She was now working on development of a capacity building strategy for people working in communities – the Public Service within communities including Managers, administrators and other leaders.

Christa’s team has gone out to communities to ask what support should be provided for First Nations. From this they have now developed a plan which is going to be taken back out for approval by communities in May.

Christa advised that a recognition program was being worked on. This is due to the high turnover of staff and the fact that many leaders, managers and administrators have significant skills and experience, but no formal qualifications. This was one of the issues that came out of visits with communities. All communities want to excel so the strategy is going to be called “The Courage to Excel”

At a Provincial level she said they were looking for best practices. She saw a need to integrate services to bring education closer to health – we need to make that connection. She saw a need to engage youth better in the decision-making processes and wanted to support and partner with the FNHC - so all strategies can come to life. She felt there was benefit to maximizing resources by sharing information and strategies.

QUESTIONSANDANSWERSFORPANEL:

Q: [Not a question - a comment] My problem with the Tripartite Health Plan is that it has nothing to do with wellness – it focuses on medical and deficit model. We need to look at wellness from FN perspective.

A: Thank you for that comment. We support a focus on wellness also.

Q: The Transformative Change Accord – is there any data of First Nations practicing in health professions?

A: Trish advised that the survey being conducted by Kahui Tautoko would look at the numbers working in various roles in communities, but Health Authorities needed to provide data on the numbers working in mainstream. There were also other areas where First Nations are working but it is true that the data is not as good as we would want it to be

Q: [Not a question – a comment] I am working on the Health Human Resource strategy for the Province at the Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport and this needs to include Aboriginal component. We need to measure success and look at indicators. I am quite keen to discuss over the next 2 days and look at an indicator for Aboriginal HHR

4


3 DAY1:CURRICULUM/CULTURALCOMPETENCYPROJECTS

3.1 CAPILANOUNIVERSITY:HSRCCurriculumEvaluationandRevision

Presentedby:PatrickdeSousa,CoordinatorDepartmentofHealthCareEducation

Powerpoint:SeeAppendix5

Patrick introduced 3 different projects:

MT CURRIE HSRC PROJECT• Home Support / Residential Care (HSRC) course - a

major partner for this project was the Mt Currie band• This HSRC program involves 10 FN students from Mt

Currie - 2 are non-FN from Pemberton. We tried to do most of the learning on reserve but most of the clinical component was done in North Vancouver and students all mixed together with mainstream students as they needed access to the equipment

• The challenges with this program is they went into it blind so did not know what to expect and had not planned for some of the challenges we faced

• Worked closely with Mt Currie band but there a large turnover of staff and it lacked continuity

• We did not work over the phone or by e-mail – it was a face to face relationship that worked with Mt Currie and this program, repetition with staff provided a good foundation for the relationship and the program

• We had a training session on FN history which was beneficial for all students – very emotional process for all as many did not know about what has happened to FN communities here in Canada. I was shocked by how much we all did not know about FN experiences

• Had a student support system built into the program which worked out well but not helpful when students were stressed, so maybe they needed to have support all the time and not just intermittently?

• Experiences learnt from the Mt Currie projecto We hired people from the area which made it

more culturally relevant to the students o We had elders talk to the students about Mt

Currie and the uniqueness of that communityo The curriculum needed to be relevant to these

students – not foreigno Storytelling was a great way for students to

express themselveso Check in period – 15 minutes put aside at

beginning of class for students to off-load and then once this was done they could get on with work/study

ABORIGINAL BRIDGING PROGRAM (see Powerpoint)• Students needed to meet criteria and they did in this

program• 4 courses - 2 optional• 1 x Student success course – looking at barriers to

success in post secondary education• 3 and 4 mandatory – health and wellness for self was a

focus for this component

WOMENS DROP IN CENTER IN DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE• We worked alongside 12 women from the sex industry

who provide support to women in hospital that live in downtown eastside

• The women who opted in were offered help and support themselves. They had to attend classes if they were in this course - they could still be in the sex industry but they had to have consistent behavior throughout

• Trying to create a healthcare team of home support workers from the community that can also meet the community’s needs. We need to acknowledge that the community is diverse and made up of many different groups with a variety of needs

3.2 DOUGLASCOLLEGE:PsychiatricMentalHealthNursingCareers

Presentedby:AnnaHelewka,FacultyofHealthSciencesdeptofPsychiatricNursing


Anna wanted to do this project as she was appalled that the face of psychiatric nursing was so ‘white’ and did not have a variety of ethnic groups involved; in particular, First Nations.

This project involved a 3 year diploma offered at Douglas College. The vision is not only to increase access to the course of FN students, but also to benefit from FN students’ contributions to the course and to other students. They have as much to offer as they have to learn.

The process used previously did not attract a lot of FN students and this was a key area to change:

• Phase 1 of project – only have 1 faculty staff that is FN involved

• Phase 11 of project – we want to recruit a cohort that is hands-on providing information about psychiatric nursing

3

5


• We did a Literature review but acknowledge that you have to go deeper into the cultural aspect of each culture as you cannot learn everything just from reading a book or attending 1 Aboriginal Studies class

• We did an Environmental Scan – looked at what we are doing wrong, western education perspectives, Aboriginal Pedagogy, Psychiatric nursing education, Education Transitions and how to apply all this knowledge to psychiatric nursing education

QUESTIONSANDANSWERS:

Q: I want to challenge your assumption about mental health. Sometimes it is the terminology of mental health that brings stigma. Mental health is not as big an issue for First Nations as people think it is. It is about the misdiagnosis of our people. Wrong mindset applied to FNs

A: I agree mental health has a bad stigma to it and that much of the state of FNs is due to historical, political events. We need to be much more cognizant about the labels and terminology we use

Q: Can you elaborate on the Faculty support that you have?A: We have support from an administration

perspective. We honor the students as the experts – we needed to shift the way of thinking about this that we in the academic profession are the experts on these things but it is going to take time for our Faculty to shift to this way of thinking. Trying to unravel the history of how they have been educated is hard but we need to embrace the FN knowledge in the class room and ask them for input. Teachers need to listen to them and this is our goal as a team in the Faculty. The perception of power needs to change – very challenging but need to look at learning from students and not thinking we are the experts

Q: Is there an Aboriginal services division at Douglas?

A: No, we only have 1 Aboriginal liaison person

NORTHWESTCOMMUNITYCOLLEGE:DevelopmentofFirstNationHSRCAProgramfor3remotenorthwestFirstNationcommunitiesPresentedby:DianeClements-DeanofHealth,Northwest


We used our AHHRI project funding for a FN Home Support Residential Care (HSRC) program targeting working with 3 communities in the remote Northwest:• FN HSRCA on Haida Gwaii • FN HSRCA at Nisga’a• FN HSRCA in Gitwangak

Diane went through her presentation discussing the implementation, challenges and successes of each program


Q: Students that come into the program without pre-requisites - what is the colleges’ situation on higher learning?

A: Testing is done but it is still difficult. We did not require full pre-requisites in many cases as we wanted the students to succeed

Q: How were you able to get into the communities to get this going?

A: In some cases my predecessor and other staff had already formed relationships. We already had a relationship with WWNI (Wilp Wilxo’oskwhl Nisga’a Institute - a fully accredited university-college) for instance and this kept going. It is definitely harder if there is no education society or group in the community that you can link with. We were lucky that in all 3 communities this was the case so this made it easier.

6


3.3 LANGARACOLLEGE:DevelopmentofsupportiveandculturallyappropriatestrategiestofacilitatetherecruitmentandretentionofAboriginalnursingstudents

Presentedby:LarryRailton-ManagerofServicesforAboriginalstudents


We received an AHHRI grant for our nursing program in 2007-08. We are looking at issues of retention (for instance if we develop a more culturally aware curriculum, will this encourage them to stay?). We know that a lot of Aboriginal students travel far from their homes and they are very lonely and miss their families. We have to make it attractive for them. We want to access grades 6 & 7 students to try and guide them into health care; want to run a summer institute for older students grades 11 & 12. Our project also involves the review of our curriculum – we have formed an advisory committee to assist in identifying cultural content and we will review resources alongside that.

Phase 2 of our project is to develop a mode of cultural safety for our nursing program.


Q: How did you do the curriculum review?A: Each faculty member was responsible for a course

and they had to complete the curriculum review on the content and resources.

Q: You need to involve FN people in reviewing things like this. You cannot get information from books

A: Sorry, I should mention that members of the Langara College Advisory committee are First Nations so they do have a direct influence and input

3.4 NORTHWESTCOMMUNITYCOLLEGE–DevelopmentofFNHSRCAAccesstoPracticalnurseprograminremotenorthwest

Presentedby:DianeClements,DeanofHealth,Northwest


Not sure if people know, but Nisga’a in the Nass Valley are the 7th health authority in BC since their Treaty settlement. A few years ago they had a new Health Director who needed to change the service delivery model that they operated under. That Director wanted to remove the silo’s that existed and have staff working across services in a more integrated manner. There was also concern that 10 HSRCA staff were doing more than they should and because of the health needs of the community, and the lack of nurses, the HSRCA’s often operated outside of their scope. Effectively they were operating like a LPN or a Registered Nurse. So the issues were two-fold – a lack of nursing capacity, and existing HSRCA staff working outside their scope as a result.

Nisga’a has no chronic care or palliative care in the valley so people have to move away for this type of care. It was viewed that if Nisga’a had LPN’s, then the people could come home to die where they wanted to be.

People were definitely interested in programs in Nass Valley, so we started this initiative to transition HSRCAs into LPNs. • Phase one – community collaboration, nursing

collaboration, regulatory processes• Student Challenges - all are working full time so we

have to fit the course around their jobs and home life; Cannot offer Biology 12 as there is no teacher for this in the valley; lack of funding; no employer support to release staff when there are no relief staff; students having difficulty completing the pre-requisite requirements; travel requirements for both students and tutors

• We have 7 committed students out of the 10 which is good.

7


3.5 UBC–LearningCircles:EmbracingCommunitySolutions

Presentedby:LeahWalker,AssociateDirector,UBCInstituteofAboriginalHealth


I work within the Aboriginal Health team at UBC. We have several people doing good work in Aboriginal health.

The Learning circles are effectively communication and learning via video conference. The initiative started a couple of years ago between several people who were thinking about what UBC could do to assist health administrators in FN communities. The challenge is that we are based here and there, and many health administrators cannot leave their posts and come to study. We thought about using video-conferencing as a way of getting our knowledge out to communities as well as providing a forum for them to share information between themselves. This would be convenient, open to everyone to join in and focused on the topics that people wanted to discuss and learn about. It also meant we could provide tutors on specialist topics when needed.

Health Canada had funding for Video conference equipment but the equipment that was acquired was pretty much ‘dumped over the fence’ so many communities did not know how to use it. In some communities this type of equipment sits idle. Some do not have the telecommunications needed to make the equipment work such as broadband. So this was and is a challenge in bringing more communities on board.

With the AHHRI funding we surveyed all of the health care communities and asked them what topics they may like to learn about. We aimed to convene learning circles by videoconference with different topics every 2 weeks. The idea was that expertise did not come from the university but the communities themselves, but we could facilitate it for them. Also, the communities were doing good things but nobody was sharing this (or at least it was difficult to share this knowledge), so UBC decided to start the dialogue.

‘Combining indigenous and western knowledge’ – this was a topic for one of the learning circles for the Gitxsan people after all the youth suicides they had had. Other communities joined in via video conference and lots of communities shared experiences about youth suicide and how they dealt with it in their communities. We re-surveyed communities after 2 years of learning circle to see what else communities wanted or needed.

Successes are that communities now do not find institutions to be horrible places and that they see us as a facilitator of knowledge sharing and not an institution that thinks it knows everything. The Learning circle potential is amazing. Currently we have 80 communities linked by video conference through UBC. We have just started a youth series so youth can talk with each other and sexual health is one that we want youth to run themselves.


Q: How many of the 203 communities are connected to video conference?A: There are lots of communities that are not

hooked up via video conference It is not that simple to hook up but we have 80 at the moment. Remember some of these 80 health centers represent multiple communities so I couldn’t give you the exact number out of 203.

Q: Do you know what percentage of the community will be joining up?A: It is up to the communities to want to join up.

Some have been approached but do not want to join and that is perfectly fine.

3.6 UBC–ExpandingAboriginalHealthKnowledgeinCommunitiesandinEducatingFutureHealthCareProfessionals

Presentedby:LeahWalker,AssociateDirector,UBCDivisionofAboriginalPeoplesHealth


This project is about planning student teams of 4 in a community so that they get first- hand knowledge and experience of community, in the field. Each community they go to decides how they want to meet the objectives in their own way – this is vital.

8


Particulars:• students live together• inter-professional (not just medical students, includes

nurses, dentistry etc)• clinical settings and traditional settings involved• Aboriginal teachers, elders and community members

actively involved as teachers in the program• community projects – students must complete a

community project selected by the community (e.g. a sexual health project; living positive with HIV/AIDs; medication)

• students are situated in the health care center and in the community

The real curriculum is “how can you adapt to meet the needs of the community?”• Health and healing starts in the relationship and getting

to know the community• How can you build trusting relationship with Aboriginal

people?• Where do Aboriginal people feel comfortable? • What do you know about this community its history

and current perspective?

It is very much about grounding the students in real community experiences; helping them to understand and learn how to form relationships, listen and be patient; opening their eyes to their own cultural paradigms and potential attitude barriers. [Photos shown of students in communities]


Q: So you stayed in the community for 4 weeks?? Where were you housed?? A: Yes housing was the biggest issue and concern

but the best experience was for the students to be billeted. Good way to bond with the community.

Q: Sounds great. Would this be an Intramural placement course in UBC?

A: We are trying – but there are lots of politics with that issue

9


4 DAY1:RECRUITMENTANDRETENTIONPROJECTS

4.1 NUU-CHAH-NULTHTRIBALCOUNCIL:VancouverIslandCentreofexcellenceforAboriginalNursing

Presentedby:KellyJohnson,NursingDepartmentRecruitmentandRetention


We have 14 First Nation communities in the Nuu-Chah-Nulth area on the west coast of Vancouver Island. In 2006 we had students do their practicum in our community. The project is working towards a “Center of Excellence in Health” on Vancouver Island. The program focuses on strategies to get students into health professions.

There is a high turnover in the community of nurses. We did cultural awareness workshops as orientation for new nurses in community - cultural awareness workshops are run by Kelly for Vancouver Island students. Another project is to develop a curriculum and module to provide training in the community for the community. We have done a needs assessment in 3 of the communities - lots of the communities have people working in their community that could do this course.


Q: Am interested in your cultural awareness courses. Perhaps some of us could look to you more for support in the area of cultural awareness?

A: Yes but the culture of our program is based on Nuu-Chah-Nulth area so it is specific to this tribe. You need to adapt it for local first nations but we would be happy to share what information we have so you don’t have to re-invent the wheel

4.2 UNIVERSITYOFBRITISHCOLUMBIA–Blossomingconnections:bridgingintothehealthsciencesthroughorientation,studyskillsandmentoring

Presentedby:DrLeeBrown,ActingDirector,UBCInstituteofAboriginalHealth


Our project is “Blossoming connections in health”. This is based on creating a sustainable and culturally appropriate environment to provide orientation, study skills and mentoring to Aboriginal students in health and human services at UBC.

We have 15 health related programs and 7 others. Since September 2008 we have had a luncheon series or sharing circle where we bring students, faculty and elders together to discuss health related topics. We have a student talk at each series as well as a health professional – trying to create leadership by doing this. There are 138 Aboriginal students involved.

We have a UBC indigenous garden where we have allocated ½ acre where people can do gardening in traditional ways (organic). This summer they are growing red corn as red corn is for the health of red people – white corn for the health of white people and yellow corn for the health of yellow people. This is a key project to help students center themselves on traditional teachings.

We are having a summer science program here at UBC in June and July to try and connect students to health careers also.


Q: How many students turn up at the sharing circles?

A: Usually 20-30 students and communities for each one

Q: In regards to your talking circles – how are they led - student or theme?

A: Generated by students. They contact different faculties and try and bring the students together

Q: Do you have any nurses involved? A: Yes they are part of one of the faculties we

work with

4

10


Q: Can you talk more about the mentoring system?

A: We try and attach students to mentors. It’s an informal system and they step in and try to help students when required, they provide tutoring, support and anything else they may need. They are Aboriginal mentors. Mentoring seems to be more beneficial than study skills.

4.3 COLLEGEOFNEWCALEDONIA:AboriginalHealthSciencesAccessprogram

Presentedby:PatriciaCovington,DeanofHealthSciences


Our initiative is ‘Pathways to success’ and involves 22 Aboriginal groups in area. The AHHRI funding is great. We have reserved Aboriginal seats on our programs however have found that there are not enough qualified applicants to fill the seats so we needed to try something new to encourage young people into our programs. We held a Health science explorer camp (AHHRI funding used for this) in 2008 aimed at creating that interest for students to go into health sciences. Northern Health Authority has provided extra funding as well.

Outcomes – 3 students registered in adult basic upgrade and practical nursing (2) and registered nurse program. Northern Health Authority has given extra money for honorariums for elders and for mentoring supports and student bursaries. This has truly helped and will support this in the future.


Q: Has a pathways program already started?A: No we have had the exploration camp. The

pathways starts Sept 2009

Q: Is it going to be offered on all the campuses?A: No only in Prince George for now as it is

centralized

Q: Do you have a faculty member to run the pathways?

A: No we are borrowing from another division for this pathways project

4.4 CAMOSUNCOLLEGE:RoadtoSuccess

Presentedby:ElizabethHulbert,AssociateChairNursing.


Under our “Road to Success” strategy we have 2 projects under AHHRI - BSN (Baccalaureate of Science Degree in Nursing) and Practical nursing. We have a class of 190 students per year. Out of that there are 10 designated seats for FN students. We held a Summer institute using AHHRI funding for First Nations students in August 2008. It involved a study skills course, time management, reading, writing, learning from lectures, assisting memory, exam preparation. English and Mathematics courses were offered at no charge for upgrading. Academic upgrading was offered after school. Camosun has a mandate that every single course has to be indigenized – not just specific courses. This means our curriculum has to be put into a culturally safe language. The learning circles involve a support group that is in place to work with other tribal councils on the island. We fund one person who has a social work background and her role is to work exclusively with the (50%) aboriginal students in health careers. We also offer Tutoring of 2 hours per week tutoring in biology.

11


5 BRIDGING

5.1 SIMONFRASERUNIVERSITY–PreparationforHealthCareersinAboriginalcommunities

Presentedby:MichalFedeles,DirectorContinuingHealthEducationandAdjunctProfessor


For this project SFU works with a number of partners - Kwantlen, Sto:lo and Métis partnerships.• Building on Aboriginal university prep program:

o Initiative is a bridging course for Aboriginal students wanting to get into health

o Up to 4th cohort - program prepares students for university

• Building on Rural Aboriginal pre-health:o Program been around for 6-7 yearso Focusing on curriculum and student supporto Preparation for health careers in Aboriginal

communities

How we started – we brought together various Aboriginal groups to understand the needs and priorities of the students. We did an Environmental scan and found out what courses already exist and how we could make it more cost effective.

Where we are now – we have formed an advisory committee. They have helped to guide the evolution of this program. The committee is made up of elders, community partners, a young community health nurse and Aboriginal role models.

What will this program look like? We plan to start September 2009 - 3 terms (10 months) long. Courses will involve:• Aboriginal and western perspectives woven together

for effective practice• Foundations of health and wellness• Intro to Canada health system and careers• English, math’s, science, human biology• FN studies 100, health sciences 100• Practicum• Elders involved as guest speakers and mentors

What supports will students need - Personal, cultural, spiritual; Health career specific; Academic support. This will involve Tutoring, Mentoring, E-mentoring (a new online idea come out of discussions with UBC Faculty of medicine looking at using Face-book as a new way of enhancing the student experience). We also want to

explore how we can use this idea to get younger ages interested in the health profession; and Networking.


Q: Exciting presentation – what is your target population as you talked a lot about younger people but what about older students?

A: We based this on the demographic of the area (south of the Fraser River). We have been focusing on the needs of the population which is mostly younger students (under 30) and it is a full time course. We would like to be flexible with the format and will be open to suggestions on how it will work full time and part time.

Q: We have had a lot of students who have not had access to computers on a personal basis so this can be a drawback for the Face-book idea. Have you thought about how you would get computers to students?

A: No the e-mentoring idea was just an idea at this stage and hopefully once we experiment with it we can then maybe help students out with computers. Currently there is no budget to equip students with computers

Q: One of the comments you made is that are you starting the bridging program in September but you have a university preparation program starting in January?

A: The Aboriginal prep program is a different program to the one we have discussed.

Q: Observation I made in January is that the Aboriginal bridging program is important but it starts 2 weeks too early for students that have graduated from school. Can you expand on the practicum?

A: This is a difficult question – we are working towards the September opening - we think that it would be beneficial for students to have hands on exposure as soon as they start. We have not finalized what the practicum program will look like at this stage – may end up with 2 or 3 days with intense observation experience at the beginning of the program. We would like Fraser Health Authority to help with this and find placements for students.

Q: The target audience will be people that know for sure that they want to get into health careers?

A: We need to work with the needs of the students that enroll. We want to accommodate whoever joins up and help them get what they need – mainly nurses and

5

12


then those students who are thinking about getting into the health profession – we will not be screening them but we want them to come to the course and then try and accommodate what they require

Q: Was the environmental scan done all over BC? A: Yes we wanted to make sure that we had all

the right information for this

5.2 COLLEGEOFTHEROCKIES:AboriginalBridgetoHealthandTechnologyprogram

Presentedby:SimonRoss,AboriginalEducationProjects


“Bridge to Health and Technology” program is our project. We are looking at how we take the courses that students need TO the communities instead of them coming to us. We established this with our First Nations community partners and started program in 2005.

The Goal was to deliver this program in face to face or class based environment - all on-line course are made available from post secondary level due to remoteness of communities. The purpose is to increase Aboriginal student access enrollment and success in health programs.

The process we used involves: • Community based training• Structured support environment• Responsibility, accountability and empowerment• Transparency and commitment• Learning community

Advantages of delivering the programs this way are:

• Community based learning – for instance Shuswap band are creating a lab center in their community to help sustain the programs there. They are also working towards creating a community school

• Idea of online learning is that students have more accountability: students may feel a greater level of comfort studying in their home community and there is greater opportunity for the community to be aware and supportive of their learners; student may feel a higher sense of community investment and concern in their learning and success

• Students and instructors have more tools to monitor performance – leading to greater student success

Challenges:• Funding cycle and policies• New learners at the intermediate level course may find

online learning initially challenging as they have limited computer skills

• More individual support may be needed by intermediate level learners

• Bands/sponsor less including to fund online learning• Fundamental level learning not addressed in

community• Providing adequate support and guidance to online

learners• Access to technology

Program course options are based on students training plans. Each student signs a Student learning contract – what is required of them to participate so they can be held accountable. It includes a schedule for student of their courses.

If we are doing community based learning we need to create local training coaches to support students so we have a Train the Coach trainer who can go around communities and train Training Coaches. We have used AHHRI funding to help support this. Purpose is to create 5 online courses for these coaches – we have written most of them, still a couple to do.

13



Q: What from a faculty perspective is the ratio for faculty to students?

A: Currently 1 to 16 but if they have more students there is more time given. 1-16 is a good ratio

Q: What is the age group of your students? A: Right now if we want to build capacity in the

community, we need to target 17-18 year olds. We are also getting younger students 15-16 who have been thrown out of school and would like to return to education – hopefully the bridging course will help them.

Q: Looks like the pre-requisites for each program are very similar (as per the description in the Powerpoint slide). Is this the case?

A: Yes. It is really designed like this as a checklist for the student so that they can mark off what they already have and what they need.

5.3 THOMPSONRIVERUNIVERSITY–Collaboratingforsuccess

PresentedbyJoanneBrown,AboriginalProjectsCoordinator


Thompson Rivers University has a campus in Kamloops and one in Williams Lake. We work with 5 First Nations, which includes 47 communities. We knew strength would be collaboration so we collaborate with them all.

Our Aboriginal Nursing project has been going since 2003. Initially funded from Nursing Directorate and we have now got funding from Ministry of Advanced Education and AHHRI.

The project involves Recruitment; Practical supports; Faculty development – learning about cultural, history and about each other; Four stages of the continuum of health care education and practice.

Central Questions for our project• What characteristics are needed of nurses and other

health professionals?• What opportunities exist for Aboriginal nursing

students for practice and learning in community or organizations? What supports are needed?

We talked with our communities. The goals of community Gatherings were to:

• Share perspectives• Strengthen partnerships• Do a Community survey and demographic analysis• Identify opportunities for nursing students to learn in

Aboriginal communities and organizations• Identify and communicate next steps

David Lindley (speaker from Interior Health Authority) - Interior Health developed an Aboriginal human resources plan and we have begun implementing this 5 year plan from 5 strategies for transformative change from the Tripartite Health Plan.

Another Speaker: Cultural Safety Modules – want to talk about the modules that have been developed. This was the result of a collaborative effort of TRU and University of Victoria nursing faculty and Aboriginal experts from Vancouver Island and the BC Interior. It involves 3 modules – online, face to face and learning situations. The research group also linked with a NZ group who had done a lot of work on cultural safety. Our modules covered Canadian history – colonization; The residential school experience; the First peoples of this territory; Health promotion – working together with Aboriginal people. It is shocking that 75% of Canadians are not aware of the history!

Leadership development is another aspect. We try and connect students with groups such as ANAC (Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada) so they can connect with peers. Also try to get students into graduate school and master’s education. The challenge is with culturally safety – we do not want it to turn into a check list thing. Culturally safety is relational – it is about learning about yourself – can be a difficult thing to get people to look at themselves.

5.4 VANCOUVERISLANDUNIVERSITY/NORTHISLANDCOLLEGE/NUU-CHAH-NULTH–HealthandWellnessinAboriginalCommunities

Presentedby:EvelynVoyageur,CourseFacilitator&PaulWillie,AboriginalCommunityMember


Presentation by Evelyn VoyageurMy project is “Nursing 410”. It began in 2005 – the theme was integrating culture into nursing. This course was offered to fourth year nursing students as well as registered nurses who are interest in working with Aboriginal people. The community becomes the faculty

14


and the classroom venue is nature and the ceremonial big house.

The First Nations partners are Wuikinuxv (rivers inlet) and Tsawataineuk (kingcome). The students live with families so they get a more personal feeling while training. Those who stayed at the nurse’s quarters felt more left out than those that lived with the families. Students advised us that being in the community was the best way to learn – very positive outcomes when the community becomes the learning environment.

Presentation by Paul Willie• Gilakasla = welcome come as you are

without prejudgment of coming together• This project is about development and delivery of

health care services with nursing services as a focal point

• Involves two small communities with minimal funding due to population driven formula. We know that you must build good quality relationships with the communities

• We intended to address the current situation and demonstrate the possibilities for efficient and effective healthcare through a community led process of program design and an integrated approach

• We incorporated our core values into the circle of wellness. It involves systems knowledge partnership and collaboration with traditional knowledge. The concept of “relatingness” – everything has consequences for something else

• A holistic approach to health care focusing on the four aspects of self

• The four areas of relatingness – social, environmental, cultural, contribution

• Community knowledge – the people know when to hunt, fish, dry food, pick food

• Firm resolve that community must be in charge of its own destiny

• “You cannot solve a problem with the same mindset that create it” Einstein

• Culture as the foundation for wellness – traditional dance for movement exercise, drumming chanting for stress release, traditional food procurement, medicine walk. Vibrant health and prosperous community

• What would I see if my community was health - “FULL EXPRESSION OF OUR CULTURE”

15


6 AHHRIENVIRONMENTALSCAN2009REPORT

Presentedby:MaraAndrews,SeniorConsultant,KahuiTautokoConsultingLtd,Vancouver


Mara explained that she was from Kahui Tautoko Consulting – a small group based in Vancouver providing consulting services for indigenous peoples in health, education, corrections, social services. Have been working in this area in New Zealand and the Pacific for the past 9 years and been in Vancouver for almost a year. Kahui Tautoko is a Maori term that means “a group that supports others to move forward– to fulfill their goals”. Kahui Tautoko Consulting have been working with the Tripartite partners to support the delivery of the Tripartite First Nations Health Plan in BC – did some work on Cultural Competency; Chronic Disease; Accountability and now working on the AHHRI Environmental Scan.

Mara advised that Kahui Tautoko Consulting had been contracted to do three things:• Conduct literature review of some indigenous health

human resource strategies being implemented in New Zealand; Australia; US and other parts of Canada

• Conduct a survey of the First Nations workforce working for communities

• Conduct focus groups with Aboriginal students based in mainstream and Aboriginal post-secondary institutions, and with a sample of communities to identify their issues related to AHHRI goals

Presentation covered the results of the focus groups specifically with the students and with communities covering the findings from each of the key questions asked of the two sample groups. She reiterated that many of the issues would not be ‘new’ and if anything, would affirm what post-secondary attendees already know. This should continue to help make the case for advocating for continued resources for student recruitment and retention.

6

16


7 DAY2:CURRICULUMPROJECTS

7.1 UBC:AboriginalHealthandCommunityAdministrationProgram:LadderingintheHealthSciences

Presentedby:DrLeeBrown,ActingDirector,UBCInstituteforAboriginalHealth


Project is AHCAP II (Aboriginal Health Care Administrators Program)

The program provides skills through a mixed mode delivery. Topics include

o Communication and leadershipo Fundamental of administrationo Policy and researcho Information managemento Community health issues

The Program has won 2 major excellence awards for outstanding non-credit programs


Q: Do people come from all over the Province? A: Yes 5 x 3 day courses

Q: When does it change to a Degree? A: It doesn’t. It is more a laddering course

Q: Who is the target audience? A: People who are already employed in public

health administrations

7.2 UBCOKANAGAN:FirstNationscurriculumdevelopmentproject2008-2011

Presentedby:CarleneDingwall,AHHRICurriculumProjectDirector


Firstly I want to reflect on the term “Aboriginal” that I have been hearing about over the last 2 days. It is a government term meant to lump us all together so we are easier to manage and control – but we the

Okanagan people know who we are so don’t mind the term. We know we are Okanagan First Nations and we are distinct from other First Nations, and from Métis and Inuit. But I will use the term for my presentation since people here are comfortable with it.

Basically our project aims to give the students a good introduction on who Aboriginal people are. There are 4 modules to the program and 4 departments at UBCO are involved (the modules are a mandatory):

NursingSocial workHealth studiesHuman kinetics

When we got involved as the Okanagan people, we were not interested in a token approach. We wanted the study of our people to be mandatory part of the programs and it is our goal that ALL courses at UBCO will include these modules. We told UBCO we will not work with them without this commitment.

An overview of the modules is that it includes Aboriginal Health cultural safety – who we are, nation to nation – past and present, colonization - community engagement – decolonization.

We have an Advisory council of 20 members consisting of elders, members from local Aboriginal communities and organisation; representatives from each department in FHSD, indigenous studies and Aboriginal services. We meet once a month for 3 or 4 hours. The purpose is to direct all aspects of the project, ensuring appropriate protocols related to curriculum development, facilitates community awareness and support.

We as Okanagan want UBCO to commit and pay for these modules out of their own pocket in the long term. We are happy with AHHRI funding but we still need UBCO to commit to paying for this type of thing themselves and integrating it fully into the University’s way of doing things.

7

17


7.3 COLLEGEOFTHEROCKIES–AboriginalHealthCurriculumandLaddering

Presentedby:RobynBeattie-Laine,AboriginalEducationCoordinator


This project is just at the beginning stages. It involves 4 Ktunaxa bands and 1 Shuswap band as our partners. We have an Advisory committee and the bands are representatives on this committee. The project has 3 staff but currently only have 1 position filled.

The purpose of the project is to indigenize and increase access to College of the Rockies (COTR) health programs through research and collaboration with the communities.

The goals are to include Aboriginal culture, values, practices and perspectives into programs. We want to work with other institutions to provide this at COTR so that people can continue to live in our community but still get the learning they want without moving away.

We are creating a laddering and Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) process to identify opportunities and barriers to further professional training and employment of Aboriginal health providers. We have to identify and develop assessment tools that will meet and respect the PLA requirements of the communities.

We are reaching to community learners, so the timing of AHHRI funding was good – delivered several courses in the communities which had a lot of positive feedback. Our laddering project started in October 2008 known as the “bridge to health”. It provides more education to more health workers. The challenges as always are funding due to the costs of community based learning.

18


8 DAY2:RECRUITMENTANDRETENTIONPROJECTS

8.1 UBC:DIVISIONOFABORIGINALPEOPLESHEALTH:AboriginalsinMedicineEnhancement&DevelopmentProgram

Presentedby:JamesAndrew,AssociateDirector,DivisionofAboriginalPeoplesHealth,DepartmentofFamilyPractice,FacultyofMedicine


This is a distributed program since we have 3 sites in BC – one at UNBC, UBC and University of Victoria. We want to announce (if you don’t know) the start of a 4th site to be opened in Kelowna for UBC.

The history of this project is that it has been going on since 2001. At the time 13 seats were set aside for Aboriginal applicants and we have an Aboriginal admissions subcommittee. There is a specific Aboriginal interview process where students from all of the sites are interviewed here at the Longhouse altogether. This means they get to form bonds immediately. We also provide lunch for students and faculty. We currently have 28 students enrolled to this program.

Initially we wanted to just get Aboriginal students into seats but we have now decided we need to do more, so that all Aboriginal students have a greater chance of success. We knew we needed to facilitate them coming together initially and then on an ongoing basis so that they could peer support each other to avoid loneliness or isolation. Students need to attend orientation week which is a 3 day orientation for the Aboriginal students. We started this up because the standard orientation day has no cultural aspect for Aboriginal students. They have drum-making sessions, identity sessions, traditional food sessions, included problem based learning sessions and help on how to take multiple choice exams.

The Students feedback has been exceedingly positive. We also get them to attend Leadership conferences such as the annual IPAC meetings. We fund students to attend conferences across Canada and get exposed to the wide range of issues and to more of their peers. We have social activities which we try and organize twice a semester with the faculty. There is an annual retreat for all students and faculty of the 3 sites – students set the agenda, as well as pre-admission workshops (site changed every year) for pre-med students who want to

pursue a career in this field.

I must acknowledge that we borrowed many of the ideas for this type of program from INMED which is an “Indians into Medicine” program run by the University of North Dakota in the US. They are a leading light when it comes to successfully graduating medical students. That is why our program is called ABMED.


Q: Do you know how many graduates you have had all up?

A: 33 since the beginning

Q: Is there a similar position to yours in any other of the disciplines at UBC?

A: There is a couple in some of them social work, dentistry.

8.2 THOMPSONRIVERSUNIVERSITY:IncreasingEnrolmentandAccessforAboriginalStudents

Presentedby:PaulRene’Tamburro,PHD,BSWProgramChair


I am part of the School of Social Work and Human Service. The AHHRI grant partners include Interior Métis Association and the Cariboo Friendship Society. Our First Nations partners include the Secwepemc who are comprised of 17 bands – one of the largest FN groups in BC. The total population is 9,000 of which over half live off reserve.

Our project involves Aboriginal programs in social work/HUMS. Much of the work we do was driven off lessons we learned at the evergreen state college in Olympia. They have an on-campus program for Native American studies which is attended by mostly non-Indian students! It shows that collaboration leads to academic success within a cultural context but it requires a willingness to adapt.

Our AHHRI Project (see Powerpoint) is based on strengthening the social work program to attract more Aboriginal students, but also to attract non-Aboriginal students so that they work in a more culturally safe way.


Q: How long is your program? A: 10 weeks

8

19


9 WORLDCAFÉ

9.1 IntroductionSession:PlenaryPanel

DerekLeung:HealthCanada As everyone will know, the AHHRI funding officially finishes in 2010. We have no idea if the Government is going to renew it. Certainly we are advocating for its renewal but in these times, we do not know what will happen. It is important therefore that all groups look at the issue of sustainability and what is next after 2010 – whether or not the AHHRI funding continues. We have heard how many want to see commitment by the post-secondary institutions rather than a reliance on AHHRI funding. This is good.

There is an evaluation of AHHRI occurring right now and the researchers will be coming to BC to interview AHHRI project personnel. It is important if we are going to build a case for AHHRI renewal, that the evaluation reflects the successes and shows that the goals are being achieved or good progress made towards the goals.

10 other regions have AHHRI funding and we recently attended a national gathering looking at the variety of projects. From this I can say that BC is definitely the leader as we have a wide range of very positive projects and work being done here.


Q: Out of the world café how are you going to get the information from those not present and also those who have not been successful in received AHHRI funding?

A: We definitely need to hear the voices of others. Ideally I would like to bring everyone together – funded and non-funded. This will be a goal of ours. We know that this group is one of many voices and acknowledge we need to talk to many other forums.

ChristaWilliams:FirstNationsLeadershipCouncilI would just like to reiterate Derek’s words about the evaluation and the national AHHRI Gathering which I also attended. We heard about many AHHRI Projects across the Provinces. Some have highlighted that their best practice as a recent appointment of an Aboriginal Coordinator! It appears BC is a front runner on AHHRI and we have many initiatives that have been going for multiple years. Feel we are ahead of the game. When

the AHHRI Evaluators come to BC it is vital that any of you who are interviewed, showcase what you have done. Do not be humble – blow your own trumpet and fully explain the extent and scope of your projects. What is being done in BC is exciting – showcase it. Don’t be humble!

CherylMartin:MinistryofHealthyLivingandSportJust want to add words of support to Derek and Christa. On behalf of the Provincial government we want to support First Nations workforce development. AHHRI is a key part of that. Am keen in the next session to hear what role you see us playing to help keep the progress going and to make results sustainable.

9.2 GroupOne:Howcanwefacilitatefurthersharingofinformation?

• Post-secondary institutions should bear some of the responsibility and show commitment to the process (educational, employers, health boards). They need to boost their capacity and infrastructure operating in the area of Aboriginal studies

• Keep costs down:o Volumeo Cost recoveryo Sharing of our projectso Electronic database

• Aboriginal health workforce growth needs to be part of the culture of the institution

• Set up infrastructure & capacity in the communities (e.g. get behind the video-conferencing facilities so further information can be shared in a wider number of communities)

• Partnering/sharing with other organizations (those that are involved and those that are not involved). It is important that non-AHHRI funded post-secondary institutions know what we are doing. They may pick up some of the ideas without the need for AHHRI funding because they see the benefits. They should all get the report of this Gathering

9

20


9.3 GroupTwo:WhatrolecanFederal/ProvincialGovernmentsplay?

• Document this Gathering and put it on on-line – share with everyone

• Ongoing updates (regular)• Mailing list – set up a list and add people to it to share

information• Website• Facebook• Discussion forum• Share links to organization & contacts & programs• Descriptions and ongoing results of AHHRI funded

projects should be open to public access, easily accessible, think ‘distance’ format for curriculum

• List of instructors with specific expertise• Online resource on health professions & links to

programs and students comments• Continue developing relationships (on a personal level)• Network for ideas and feedback• Sharing best practices – an annual event

9.4 GroupThree:Howcantheresultsoftheseprojectsmaintainsustainability?

•• Legislate curriculum K-12 & post-secondary to

incorporate Aboriginal content• Funding as core and permanent funding – not a one off

‘add on’• Requirement of the institutions to commit with

resources and priority • Institutions who accept AHHRI funding should have

to match funding with their own dollars – build in an incentive for an institute to provide long term dollars such as having a 2nd phase requirement for commitment of institutions

• Allocate dollars to BC institutions to create indigenous programs and then absorb the ongoing costs and maintenance into their institutions

• Require targeted reporting of where the dollars went – focus on reporting achievements

• Include an indigenous Advisory Council to account to • Should be indigenous representatives on all Boards of

Governance & Senates at all post-secondary institutions – make this compulsory

• Take a % of any research dollars to do with First Nations, Métis, Inuit that faculties receive and put toward Aboriginal Programs

21


10/APPENDICES

10.1Appendix1:GreetingLettertoAHHRIRecipients

Greetings from the First Nations Health Council, Health Canada, Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport, and the First Nations Public Services Initiative

On behalf of my colleagues, I am very pleased to welcome you to the Aboriginal Health Human Resources Initiative gathering of BC’s post-secondary institution project leads, aboriginal community partners, and government representatives. This gathering has been the vision of our team, and supported by you. We all believe in the work you do to advance the objectives of the Transformative Change Accord: First Nations Health Plan (TCA-FNHP), the Tripartite First Nations Health Plan (TFNHP) and the Aboriginal Health Human Resources Initiative (AHHRI).

By sharing your stories of successes and challenges, it will be instrumental in sustaining health education opportunities for aboriginal people for many years to come. It will set the course for networking and enhancing our working relationships. It will also allow us to make informed, and effective decision-making in the best interests of the members of First Nations communities.

In the spirit of collaboration and strengthening province-wide relationships, thank-you for your participation in helping us advance health human resource goals and objectives. We also thank-you for leading the way in providing a culturally safe and welcoming environment to our future aboriginal and non-aboriginal health care professionals and paraprofessionals.

10.2Appendix2:GatheringGoalsandOutcomes

Twodaystogether–here’swhattoexpect

The University of British Columbia’s First Nations House of Learning offers one an experience of cultural and architectural wonder. The Great Hall is named “Sty-Wet-Tan” in Hun’q’umin’um, meaning spirit of the west wind, which welcomes people from the four directions.

The two-day gathering will provide an opportunity to tell your stories. The first day will start with a plenary session, featuring representatives from the First Nations Health Council, Health Canada, and the First Nations Public Service Initiative. It will set the context for our days work. Presentation panels will be organized by the following program themes: curriculum, bridging, laddering, and student supports. Everyone will then have the opportunity to raise questions and offer support. Through learning circles, together we will highlight potential promising practices, opportunities, challenges and solutions and discuss how to advance post-secondary institution efforts. You are encouraged to share your personal and professional experiences with the post-secondary system.

10

22


OurGoal

Our long-term goal is to ensure that health services will be more culturally sensitive, better tailored to the specific needs of First Nations communities, and more often delivered by First Nations health professionals and paraprofessionals. Our specific goal for this gathering is to provide you an opportunity to build collaborative relationships, and to also gather input from all our participants, learn from your expertise and experiences and identify educational building blocks for advancing the objectives health human resource planning.

What’sNext?

We thank you for taking the time to share your experiences. We value your participation and will do our best to capture your stories throughout the event, as we will be taking detailed notes throughout each day. A summary report will be produced and disseminated, so that you may build on your collaborative efforts both within and between BC’s post-secondary institutions, and most importantly with aboriginal communities and people across the province.

10.3Appendix3:GatheringAgenda

Agenda: Day One

8:30 - 9:00 Breakfast & Opening Prayer ~ Larry Grant (Musqueam)9:00 - 9:15 Sty-Wet-Tan Welcoming ~ Francine Burning (FNHL)9:15 - 10:15 PlenarySession

~ Joe Gallagher and Michelle Degroot - BC’s Tripartite First Nations Health Plan~ Derek Leung and Trish Osterberg – Aboriginal Health Human Resources Initiative~ Christa Williams – First Nations Public Service Initiative and the BC Aboriginal Post Secondary Education and Training MOU

10:15 - 10:30 Health Break/Networking10:30 - 12:00 Curriculum/CulturalCompetency Capilano University: HSRC Curriculum Evaluation and Revision

Kwantlen Polytechnic University: Integration of Aboriginal Content into Nursing CurriculaDouglas College: Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing CareersNorth West Community College: Development of First Nation HSRCA Program for 3 remote Northwest First Nation communities

12:00 - 12:30 Lunch Break12:30 - 2:00 Curriculum/CulturalCompetency

Langara College: Development of supportive and culturally appropriate strategies to facilitate the recruitment and retention of Aboriginal nursing studentsNorth West Community College: Development of First Nation HSRCA Access to Practical Nurse Program in remote Northwest First Nation CommunityUniversity of British Columbia-Division of Aboriginal Peoples Health: UBC Learning Circle: Embracing Community Solutions

2:00 - 2:15 Health Break/Networking2:15 - 3:45 Recruitment/Retention Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council: Vancouver Island Centre of Excellence for Aboriginal Nursing

UBC-Institute for Aboriginal Health: Blossoming Connections: Bridging into the Health Sciences though Orientation, Study Skills and MentoringCollege of New Caledonia : Health Sciences Exploration CampsCamosun College: Pathways to Success

3:45 - 4:15 AHHRIEnvironmentalScan:Post-SecondaryEducation2008/20094:15 - 4:30 Closing Remarks and Prayer

23


Agenda: Day Two

8:30 - 9:15 Breakfast, Opening Prayer and Drumming ~ Larry Grant (Musqueam) and Derek Thompson 9:15 - 10:30 Bridging

Simon Fraser University: Preparation for Health Careers in Aboriginal CommunitiesCollege of the Rockies: Aboriginal Bridge to Health and Technology ProgramThompson Rivers University: Collaborating for Success

10:30 - 10:45 Health Break/Networking10:45 - 12:00 Curriculum UBC - Division of Aboriginal Peoples Health: Indigenous Speakers’ Series

UBC Okanagan: First Nations Health Curriculum InitiativeCollege of the Rockies: Aboriginal Health Curriculum and LadderingNicola Valley Institute of Technology: Aboriginal Community and Health Development

12:00 - 12:30 Lunch Break12:30 - 1:45 Recruitment/Retention

UBC - Division of Aboriginal Peoples Health: Aboriginals in Medicine: Enhancement & Development ProgramVancouver Island University/North Island College/Nuu-Chah-Nulth: Health and Wellness in Aboriginal CommunitiesThompson Rivers University: Increasing Enrolment and Access for Aboriginal Students

1:45 - 2:00 Health Break/Networking2:00 - 3:15 WorldCafé3:15 - 4:00 Closing Remarks and Prayer

24


10.4 Appendix4:HealthCanadaTripartiteFirstNationsHealthPlan&AHHRILinkage

10.5Appendix5: CapilanoUniversity

HSRC Curriculum Evaluation and Revision

10.6Appendix6:DouglasCollege

Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Careers

10.7Appendix7:NorthwestCommunityCollege

Development of First Nation HSRCA Program for 3 remote Northwest First Nation Communities

10.8Appendix8:LangaraCollege

Development of supportive and Culturally appropriate strategies to facilitate the Recruitment and Retention of Aboriginal Nursing Students

10.9Appendix9:NorthwestCommunityCollege

Development of First Nation HSRCA Access to Practical Nurse Program in remote Northwest First Nation Community

10.10Appendix10:UBC-DivisionofAboriginalPeople’sHealth

Expanding Aboriginal Health Knowledge in Communities and in Educating Future Health Care Professionals

10.11Appendix11:UBC–InstituteforAboriginalHealth

Blossoming Connections: Bridging into the Health Sciences through Orientations, Study Skills and Mentoring

10.12Appendix12:CollegeofNewCaledonia

Aboriginal Health Sciences Access Program

10.13Appendix13:CamosunCollege

Road to Success

10.14Appendix14:SimonFraserUniversity

Preparation for Health Careers in Aboriginal Communities

25


10.15Appendix15:CollegeoftheRockies

Aboriginal Bridge to Health and Technology Program

10.16Appendix16:ThompsonRiverUniversity

Collaborating for Success

10.17Appendix17:VancouverIslandUniversity

Health and Wellness in Aboriginal Communities

10.18Appendix18:KahuiTautokoConsultingLtd

Report on the Focus Groups consulted during the AHHRI Environmental Scan conducted for the First Nations Health Council

10.19Appendix19:UBC–InstituteforAboriginalHealth

AHCAP II – Aboriginal Health and Community Administrators Program

10.20Appendix20:UBCOkanagan

First Nations Curriculum Development Project 2008-2077

10.21Appendix21:CollegeoftheRockies

Aboriginal Health Curriculum and Laddering

10.22Appendix22:UBC–DivisionforAboriginalPeople’sHealth

Aboriginals in Medicine Enhancement & Development Program (ABMED)

10.23Appendix23:ThompsonRiverUniversity

Increasing Enrolment and Access for Aboriginal Students in Social Work

10.24Appendix24:KwantlenUniversity

Although Kwantlen University were unable to physically attend this Gathering, they provided a copy of their Powerpoint presentation which is appended in this report

26


Notes

FIRST NATIONS HEALTH COUNCIL#1205 - 100 PARK ROYAL SOUTHWEST VANCOUVER, BC V7T 1A2Phone: 604.913.2080Website: www.fnhc.caEmail: [email protected]

Date post:	30-May-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	1 times
Download:	0 times

ABORIGINALHEALTHHUMANRESOURCESINITIATIVE …fnhc.ca/pdf/AHHRI_Gathering_Report_2009.pdf ·...

Documents