A call for blended supports in Remote Aboriginal Communities

Recently there was an article in the Winnipeg Free Press about Joe McLeod, who is a 70 year old man who suffers from Alzheimer’s.    Joe, who is originally from Pine Creek First Nation had to leave his home community because there weren’t enough community supports in the community to deal with the level of care that was required for Joe. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Chiefs-calling-for-better-elder-care-after-seniors-death-119070794.html   Joe and his wife were more or less forced to move to Winnipeg because of the lack of services available in Pine Creek First Nation.  Over the years Joe had started to become increasingly aggressive and had even attacked his own wife a few years ago.  In Winnipeg Joe was living at a downtown personal care home when an incident occurred in which Joe pushed another elderly man, who hit his head and eventually died.  From the perspective of the Southern Chiefs organization this tragic incident is an opportunity to evaluate the current supports that are available to elderly Aboriginal people in remote geographical locations.  They believe that the ideal situation would still be for elderly Aboriginals to stay in their home communities where community members and family are willing and often desire to look after their aging family members, but are ill equipped and not trained to deal with diseases such as advanced Alzheimer’s and dementia.  In a study conducted by Crosato (2007) it was shown that many remote Aboriginal communities engage in what is referred to as the “Family Circle of Care” this means that many people in the family included cousins, children, aunts and extended family often contribute to the care giving duties of caring for an aged family members.   The entire family was also shown to contribute to the care of an elderly family member in various ways including providing meals, transportation, financial aid, social support and continuous care. (Crosata, 2007, p.6)  This sort of collaboration would be important to help reduce the impact of caregiver burden that could potentially affect the primary caregiver of an older Aboriginal family member.  These kinds of family supports have been shown to be an important component of life in many Aboriginal communities, with many Aboriginal community members identifying caring for family members as being a very important value that has been retained from the past. (Crosata, 2007 p.7)

One of the issues that were brought up by the incident involving Joe McLeod is the belief that many personal care homes and other health facilities don’t provide appropriate care to Aboriginal seniors with a variety of different specific health concerns, including Alzheimer’s.  According to the study conducted by Crosata (2007) many Aboriginal women surveyed found that many healthcare services provided by formal health care were not always seen as being appropriate by the Aboriginal community.  This belief was echoed by the Southern Chiefs organization who has stated that they are trying to work with the government to “move forward on new models of care, where cultural and community supports could be blended with medical care.”  (Winnipeg Free Press, April 2011)

Many of the entries in this blog have touched on the lack of services available to Aboriginal seniors living in remote geographical communities.  It has been shown that many members of many Aboriginal communities are willing and desire to provide care for older members of their community, but unfortunately do not have the resources to do so.  Blending community supports with formal health care services should be a top priority of the government, not only would this help to take some of the burden off of an overloaded provincial health care system, but it would also help to ensure that culturally competent services are provided at a community level.  With a federal election coming up there has been a lot of talk in regards to the lack of services in remote Northern communities, at this point I believe we need more than just talk, we need a government that is willing to act and make real changes for Aboriginal seniors living in remote Northern communities.

Thanks for reading.

Kendall

“Chiefs Calling for Better Elder Care after senior’s death.” Winnipeg Free Press April 1, 2011 retrieved from http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Chiefs-calling-for-better-elder-care-after-seniors-death-119070794.html

Crosato, K.E., Ward-Griffin C, Leipert B. (2007) Aboriginal women caregivers of the elderly in geographically isolated communities. The international Electronic Journal of Rural and Remote Health Research, Education, Practice and Policy 7(796)