Seeing Beyond the Nursing Stereotype
Not a Nurse Jackie or Florence Nightingale in sight at the UBC School of Nursing’s inaugural EDGE Film Festival on April 6, 2017 at the Chan Centre. Smashing cinematic stereotypes, the 2017 EDGE Film Festival cut through clichéd notions of nursing by focusing on the participants involved in the wide scope of nursing research being conducted at UBC. The traditional opening by Elder Roberta Price welcomed the packed audience to Coast Salish Territory.
The evening was launched with a short film on gay men and depression. Bully/Abuse follows Jason’s story as he uses his paintings in an art-based research program to question what we actually mean when we talk about bullying.
“Everyone throws the term bullying around as if it’s a common experience, and everyone experiences it, but what they don’t realize is that if you are being beaten up constantly, sexually assaulted – that’s just plain criminal abuse,” explains Jason.
Evidence of a Struggle tackles the issue of mental health from another angle: through the hip-hop rhymes of a local high school teacher who lost his brother to suicide. Trevor’s lyrics chart the heart wrenching challenges of trying to navigate the health system to get help for a family member. Not only has Trevor channeled his own story into music, but he leads a high school hip-hop club that offers young people a way to articulate and grapple with personal struggles in a supportive community, which helps to counter the isolation that so often surrounds depression and suicide – particularly for men.
The next piece was a trailer for a Movember-funded film currently in development focusing on the Work2Give project. In a partnership between Correctional Service Canada and the Tsilhqot’in First Nation, men in federal custody build furniture, children’s toys and traditional drums, which are donated to communities in interior BC. The emerging film illustrates how meaningful work can be transformative for incarcerated men.
To cap off the first half of the program, The DUDES Club follows the Dudes as they travel from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to the remote community of Houston, B.C. to share their success in creating a club that connects men with each other as well as healthcare and support services. Also a Movember-funded project, the film captures the sense of pride and solidarity that has been built among these men to fight loneliness and social isolation.
As the audience spilled out of the cinema during the intermission, the energy was palpable. Animated conversations punctuated with laughter filled the foyer and lounge at the Chan Centre.
Displays from UBC Nursing teams and community partners highlighted innovative research programs from traditional button blankets for promoting cultural continuity shared by two ‘Namgis community researchers, to a photography exhibit giving voice to men’s struggles with suicidality, as well as practical tools to reduce discrimination in healthcare.
The second half of the program was as intense as the first. The audience was riveted by the personal journeys of Indigenous women, elders, and nurses working together in Reclaiming Our Spirits. The intervention, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, incorporates analyses of the ongoing impacts of colonization and racism to support novel routes to better health for Indigenous women who have experienced violence.
“Luckily today we can name PTSD, and we can understand women living with violence from their intimate partners, which then manifests itself in chronic health problems, sadness, depression,” explained Madeline Dion Stout, one of the program elders and an honorary professor at UBC.
As a special treat to attendees, the School of Nursing was also able to showcase the film trailer for Our Voices, Our Stories by ‘Namgis film maker Barbara Cranmer. The film garnered the award for Best Documentary Short at the 40th Annual American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco.
With so many of the films’ participants in attendance, the night wouldn’t have been complete without a chance to hear from them directly. A panel dialogue with Corrina Russ (Reclaiming Our Spirits), Trevor Mills (Evidence of a Struggle), Barbara Cranmer (Our Voices, Our Stories), and moderated by UBC Nursing’s Dr Helen Brown, alternated between making eyes misty and cracking the audience up with their frank stories and honest experiences.
The closing, led by Elder Vera Newman and her daughter, Barbara Cranmer of the ‘Namgis nation, included, a prayer of gratitude in Kwak’wala with drumming that engaged the entire audience in dancing though the theatre.
The attendee response was overwhelming with repeated praise on representing the impact of nursing beyond traditional healthcare services to kudos on the complimentary snacks and beverages. The team is already thinking forward to when the next film festival might be held.
Submitted by Merrilee Hughes
