‘We want to hear from them, learn from them, meet their needs and their requests,’ said Sault Area Hospital’s Indigenous health manager<\/p>\n
When an out-of-town Indigenous family needed emergency help, a new department at Sault Area Hospital helped them navigate the health-care system and provide culturally appropriate care.<\/p>\n
With the assistance of community partners, workers were able to find the family a place to stay while their loved one received care at the hospital, which was just one of the ways the Indigenous Services team was able to guide them while they were\u00a0in Sault Ste. Marie.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were able to connect them to local pharmacies, fill out the non-insured health benefits portions of their forms, and otherwise they would have been lost,\u201d said Jessica Grawbarger, Indigenous health manager and\u00a0member of Garden River First Nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were able to provide that support in a culturally safe way.\u201d<\/p>\n
This August, the hospital hired two permanent staff for its new Indigenous Navigator program, following a successful six-month pilot that aims to provide culturally appropriate care and support to First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people.<\/p>\n
From cultural and spiritual support, to connecting patients with community resources, Indigenous Navigators can provide a variety of supports for the patients they see.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to hear from them, learn from them, meet their needs and their requests. They are the ones who are really driving our work,\u201d Grawbarger said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur patients come to us \u2013 they have to self identify as First Nation, Inuit or M\u00e9tis, and then they just need to consent to our services.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Indigenous Patient Navigator program is just one of the ways Sault Area Hospital is working with Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n
In a dedicated garden, the hospital grows the four sacred medicines \u2013 tobacco, sage, sweetgrass, and cedar \u2013 and Indigenous patients can access the hospital\u2019s Spirit Room for traditional ceremonies like smudging, as well.<\/p>\n
Workers\u00a0foster partnerships with Batchewana and Garden River First Nations, as well as community organizations, in an effort\u00a0to improve care for Indigenous people staying at the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe at Sault Area Hospital won\u2019t lead the work without them \u2013 we do it with them,\u201d Grawbarger said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth communities \u2013 Garden River and Batchewana \u2013 were loud and clear that there needed to be a safety piece for their members.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a permanent fixture at the hospital, the Indigenous Patient Navigator program has been a success so far, workers said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s been overwhelming \u2013 a positive experience, for sure,\u201d Grawbarger said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe amount of people who are self identifying to be connected to our service is growing every month, month over month, now that people know we exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new program is just one part of ongoing efforts to provide \u201cgreat care to everyone,\u201d hospital staff said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re very, very proud of this work, and we’re grateful to Jessica’s leadership. We recognize that this is a journey, and that we’re really proud of the small steps,\u201d said Shauna Hynna, vice president of people, planning and partnerships.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are really committed to being a\u00a0safe place to get great care for everyone, and it’s really important work to the organization and to our broader community as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘We want to hear from them, learn from them, meet their needs and their requests,’ said Sault Area…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392,84364],"class_list":["post-183513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-sault-area-hospital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}