<\/p>\n
In my search for information on education for Canadian Aboriginal health care providers, the Medical Journal of Australia surprised me with an article on just that very subject.\u00a0 Anderson and Lavallee (2007) described new educational goals for Canadian First Nations medical students, agreed upon at the 2005 Kelowna Accord.\u00a0 The deal was characterized as \u201chistoric\u201d. In it, federal, provincial, and First Nations were adapting health education to better support First nations \u201ccultural competencies.\u201d These lofty statements were short on specifics but the proposal came with a $100 million pledge of support over 5 years.<\/p>\n
On an interesting note, UBC and the Universities of Manitoba and Alberta were given credit for already adapting their curriculum to better embrace the aboriginal student. As a reminder, my posting last week of the Province newspaper article mentioned UBC’s largest First Nations graduating class in 2012.<\/p>\n
Also, Anderson and Lavallee (2007) noted how First Nations were being invited to control their own community health programs.\u00a0 In their report on the Kelowna Accord, reference to \u201cthe right of the indigenous people’s to set priorities and strategies for health programs affecting their communities\u201d was made. I set about searching for confirmation.<\/p>\n
2) http:\/\/fnbc.info\/<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n This glossy, well linked site provided many helpful links to Indigenous health care.\u00a0 Because the site is managed by the First Nations Technology Council of Vancouver, I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that the concise history provided was a better reflection of a First Nation’s perspective.\u00a0 It expanded my concept of Aboriginal health care providers to include midwives, at least.<\/p>\n Here was confirmation of First Nations administering their own health care.\u00a0 The collective goal of the Tripartite First Nations Health Plan (tripartite refers to federal, provincial and First Nations governments) was to ensure First Nations were \u201cequal partners in the planning and management of health services for our people.\u201d The Formal Consensus-based Decision Making Model first proposed by the Alaska Tribal Health Compact was recommended by First Nations in British Columbia as the model to use to facilitate equal partner status. This model will be investigated further.<\/p>\n 3) <\/span><\/span>http:www.canadianmidwives.org\/main.cfm?1=en&p=04_200<\/a>3) <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Aboriginal students are invited to apply to every four year university midwife program in Canada but recently, the Kanaci Otinawawasowin Baccalaureat Program (KOBP) at the University College of the North in Manitoba opened specifically for the Aboriginal student. Introduced in 2006\/07, the KOBP program has graduated 21 Aboriginal midwives\u00a0as of 2010. Their program focuses on \u201ctraditional\/indigenous midwifery knowlege and culturally appropriate learning pathways along with contemporary health, social and biological sciences.\u201d One of their distinct teaching tools includes mentorship, something I need to understand more fully. What are the practicalities of a program involving mentorship? What makes that new? What makes that particularly Indigenous?<\/p>\n