{"id":924937,"date":"2026-10-08T05:56:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T05:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/924937\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T05:56:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T05:56:20","slug":"we-are-not-simply-physical-beings-new-course-brings-indigenous-perspectives-to-palliative-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/924937\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;We are not simply physical beings&#8217;: New course brings Indigenous perspectives to palliative care"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\" alt=\"Text to Speech Icon\" width=\"44\" height=\"44\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n<p>The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">A new online course aims to help Prince Edward Island health-care providers offer end-of-life care that respects Indigenous traditions and ways of healing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">The course was developed by Pallium Canada and the Mi\u2019kmaq Confederacy of P.E.I. in collaboration with Lennox Island and Abegweit First Nations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">Bethany MacIsaac, the confederacy\u2019s senior health adviser, said the project is one way to address inequities in the health-care system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">&#8220;This is just one way of many that we can start to close that gap and ensure that patients feel safe and respected at all interactions with the health-care system and at all points of life,&#8221; MacIsaac said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">Community members, elders and nurses who work in palliative care helped develop the course.<\/p>\n<p>LISTEN | New course focuses on end-of-life care for Indigenous people:<\/p>\n<p>Island Morning11:20New course focuses on end-of-life care for Indigenous people<\/p>\n<p>Traditions guide us through every stage of life, including death, and those traditions can look different across cultures. We hear from the Mi\u2019kmaq Confederacy of P.E.I. about a new course designed to help health-care professionals provide better palliative care to Indigenous people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">Terry LeBlanc, an elder with the Abegweit First Nation Healing Centre, said the course helps providers understand Indigenous perspectives on death and dying alongside the realities of care in hospitals and other settings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">&#8220;Sometimes hospitals or palliative-care environments were unaware of some of the cultural expectations, hopes, aspirations of family and extended family members,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">&#8220;Things as simple as wanting to be proximal to our loved ones as they take their final steps in the journey.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">LeBlanc said that can include having family and friends nearby to tell stories or sing a song in recognition of how they journeyed through life in good ways.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">He added that sharing memories can help a person recall their life as they approach death and carry those experiences into what he described as the next part of a spiritual journey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">&#8220;We are not simply physical beings in a physical world, but spiritual beings in both a physical and spiritual world,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">LeBlanc said elders and others who have accompanied a person through life can also play an important role in their care at the end of life.<\/p>\n<p>LISTEN | Confronting anti-Indigenous racism in health care:<\/p>\n<p>Information Radio &#8211; MB8:54Confronting Anti-Indigenous Racism in Healthcare<\/p>\n<p>A First Nations man was denied care for appendicitis after a doctor assumed he was just hungover. Dr. Barry Lavallee, a respected physician and advocate, says he\u2019s had enough of trying to educate healthcare professionals on anti-racism. As CEO of Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin Inc., he has dedicated his career to improving healthcare for First Nations people in Northern Manitoba. Dr. Lavallee joins the conversation to discuss systemic racism in the healthcare system, the harm it causes, and why change is long overdue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">The course is aimed at people with specialized palliative-care training, but MacIsaac said its lessons are relevant to all health-care providers and community members.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">She said the course is part of broader work on the Island to address Indigenous-specific racism in health care.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">LeBlanc said Abegweit First Nation is also working with UPEI\u2019s nursing school on a separate course focused on Indigenous health, healing and well-being.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">That course is being taught to third-year nursing students, and they attend sessions in the First Nation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">LeBlanc said being there helps them see the community beyond the classroom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">&#8220;They&#8217;re encountering people in the community, in the band office \u2026 seeing the life that the community leads and the various aspects of community engagement that are available to them,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">&#8220;[It\u2019s a] wonderful contextual experience that they&#8217;ll take with them into their nursing care.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":924938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-924937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924937","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=924937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/924938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}