 Sago,
we are really three years old!! February 28, 2002 coffee and muffins
shared by clients, board and community members marked the day in a
special way. Similar celebrations were carried out in Brantford in
late November 2001.
We are growing steadily. The clinical team delivers
culturally sensitive primary care to over 2,700 registered patients
in two cities. The health care is provided by a team of clinicians,
Dr. Les Lee, who is available two days each week, Mondays and Wednesdays
respectively in Hamilton and Dr. Nav Dhiraj, daily in Brantford, and
five Extended Class Registered Nurses (R.N.E.Cs), Barb L'Ami, Miriam
Reed, Jean Miller, Judi MacLeod and myself, Faye Lee.
We know that our exponential growth is largely due
to unique partnerships we have forged with other native organizations.
We are grateful to Taunya and all the staff at Niwasa Aboriginal Head
Start Program, particularly the children. They have participated with
great interest in creative hearing and vision screening, listened
with rapt attention to the tooth fairy and shared generously of their
enthusiasm and energy. We want to thank the parents especially who
gathered to discuss topics of common interest on more I than one occasion!
The Native Women's Centre has encouraged its clients
to get involved in health promotion talks across the life cycle. Talks
prepared by clinical and health promotion staff at De dwa da dehs
nye>s focused on sexually transmitted diseases, healthy pregnancies,
the family medicine chest and diabetes. Staffs have cheerfully lined
up to participate in screening programs on a regular basis for some
time now. They were the first off site participants and we congratulate
them on their healthy role modeling. |
Pine Tree
Native Centre of Brant has joined with us in the delivery of a Sterile
Needle Exchange that is allowing program participants to make better
choices about their health and the health of the community. We have
partnered with the Healthy Babies, Healthy Children Program under
Judi MacLeod and Barb Rowe's capable leadership to develop a health
fair for the Brantford community, which was a huge success. Approximately
fifty families participated in screening opportunities. Several community
groups joined us for this project introducing parents and toddlers
to new play ideas, infant massage, speech and language assessments,
pictures with Santa and much, much more. Rumor has it, that a smoking
cessation support group is going to be needed and available in the
near future. We thank all of the staff for their energetic efforts.
Both the Hamilton and Brantford Public Health Departments
I have linked to assist us in developing Sterile Needle Exchanges
in both sites. We receive a steady supply of condoms for distribution
in each clinic and we gratefully acknowledge the free medications,
provided for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
We are excited about the dynamic youth program available
at The Living Rock and the unique opportunity to deliver primary care
to a population of teens, many under housed and some living on the
street Primary care is delivered by Miriam at The Living Rock site,
Tuesday evenings and Wednesday mornings after the Breakfast program.
Similarly in Brantford, Barb offers primary care to teens housed by
the Youth Resource Centre, just around the comer from De dwa da dehs
nye>s. You can find her there on Tuesday evenings as well. This
service is new but growing rapidly. |
Thanks go out to the Urban Native
Homes Inc., Hamilton Regional Indian Centre, Native Women's Centre,
The living rock, Niwasa, the Youth Resource Centre (Brantford) and
Pine Tree Native Centre of Brant, who encouraged us to set up flu
clinics on their premises. We appreciated being able to improve
access to these immunizations services and they were in fact well
utilized.Clients registering with De dwa da dehs nye>s are encouraged
to participate in an in-depth intake which includes a comprehensive
health risk assessment. Results of this assessment are shared with
clients on successive visits and individuals are encouraged to take
steps to reduce or eliminate those risk factors.
Foot Care and Naturopath services are well developed
clinics now, in both Brantford and Hamilton. We encourage prospective
clients to call Charlene (905) 544-4320 or Marcy (519) 752-4340
to make appointments. These two clinics are free for Aboriginal
people even if you have another physician.
Thank you to each one who has supported us in our
growth and development thus far. We are grateful for your helping
hands. De dwa da dehs nye>s is truly a place where the community
comes together to help one another.
Nya:weh,
Fay Lee, B.Sc.N/R.N.(E.C.)
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