Temagami First Nation is launching the inaugural Ziisbaakdonaapnewin E-naagdawenjgejig Integrated Diabetes Care Team (Integrated Diabetes Care Team) Clinics
INTEGRATED DIABETES CARE TEAM
A Project with Nipissing, Dokis and Temagami First Nations
Press Release: October 10, 2014 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Temagami First Nation is launching the inaugural Ziisbaakdonaapnewin E-naagdawenjgejig Integrated Diabetes Care Team (Integrated Diabetes Care Team) Clinics
Temagami First Nation is pleased to announce that on October 15th 2014, a total of seventeen service providers are coming together to provide innovative and integrated diabetes services to First Nation citizens residing on Bear Island.
The Temagami First Nation Integrated Diabetes Care Team will be responsible for ensuring that not only the minimal Diabetes Standard of Care Screening Tests occur annually but that optimal additional services for First Nations people living with diabetes are covered for each client they see. The role of the integrated inter-disciplinary team is to improve continuity of services that includes ongoing screening, diabetes management, education, medical supervision and referrals to specialized services. Collectively they will work with the client to advocate, safeguard and case manage to optimize their experience and minimize the barriers listed above.
The Temagami First Nation Integrated Diabetes Care Team members will be seeing up to 16 clients on October 15, 2014 in a World Café format held in the community centre. This will allow for an informal setting characterized by switching stations and engaging in relevant diabetes related discussions. Clients and service providers will participate in an interactive lunch and learn. This provides First Nation members living with diabetes to meet with a wide variety of health service providers in a culturally-safe setting on the First Nation. Each station is designed in such a way that most if not all components of Diabetes Management Clinical Practice Guidelines (2013) are screened and followed up in one setting. At each station, visiting service providers are paired with community service providers. This will promote culturally safe diabetes care, enhance knowledge transfer, increase access to appropriate wholistic services and improve overall diabetes management. At the end of the day, the Integrated Diabetes Care Team members will collectively participate in case reviews and ensure appropriate follow-up and referrals are made.
Members of the Temagami First Nation Integrated Diabetes Care Team include the following service providers:
- Chiropodist
- Personal Support Worker
- Registered Nurse
- Community Health Nurse
- Pharmacist
- Health Services Manager
- RN Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE)
- Health Promotion Worker
- Registered Dietitian
- Community Health Representative (CHR)
- Respiratory Therapist
- NNADAP Worker
- Social Worker
- Psychotherapist
- AHWS Wellness Worker
In 2012, Nipissing First Nation received funding from the Health Services Integration Fund (HSIF) to develop an Integrated Diabetes Care Team service delivery model in collaboration with Dokis and Temagami First Nation. The model weaves together federal/provincial/ LHIN/private sector jurisdictions, to complement the First Nations governance and management structure. The three participating First Nations represent three different geo-political realities in Ontario.
The Integrated Diabetes Care Team clinics taking place in the three participating First Nation communities are designed to decrease structural and cultural barriers through the community based clinical approach. The Integrated Diabetes Care Team members have participated in cultural competency training to assist them with interaction with First Nation members. This training is intended to increase the core competencies of the Team and encourage each Team member to approach the clinic with the utmost respect and appreciation for the communities. The priority groups (primary beneficiaries) for the project are the three First Nation communities and their members who have not been able to effectively access diabetes services.
The Integrated Diabetes Care Teams will provide a clinic once per quarter in each of the three participating First Nations. The first Integrated Diabetes Care Team clinic will be held on October 15, 2014 and clinics have been scheduled as far in advance as September 23, 2015. Dokis First Nation will be holding their first Integrated Diabetes Care Team clinic on November 19th, 2014 and Nipissing First Nation will be holding their inaugural Integrated Diabetes Care Team clinic on December 3, 2014.
Temagami First Nation would like to thank the following individuals and organizations who are members of their Integrated Diabetes Care Team. These partners are participating without any financial remuneration for travel or fees from the HSIF project or Temagami First Nation: Temagami Medical Centre, North Bay Regional Health Centre, Findlay’s Pharmacy, Bay Orthotic & Foot Clinic, private practice (psychotherapist).
Temagami First Nation is excited to host the first Integrated Diabetes Care Team clinic after two years of collaborative planning with the HSIF Steering Committee and partners Nipissing and Dokis First Nation. We are confident that this comprehensive and First Nation designed approach will both improve continuity of services and support referrals to additional services promoting safe and healthy lifestyles for First Nations people living with diabetes.
Background:
Statistically, First Nation people do not receive the same level of diabetes care as outlined in the Canadian Diabetes Association guidelines. This has been attributed to the lack of care clinics within First Nation communities and barriers that derive from economic, social, and political factors and marginalization. These barriers are producing less emphasis on many self-management opportunities including dietary, physical activity, culturally safe education and self-efficacy required for chronic illness.
The naming of this project was a joint effort by Shirley Williams, Muriel Sawyer and Evelyn McLeod. The name, Ziisbaakdonaapnewin E-naagdawenjgejig, translates to mean “People who look after sugar diabetes”. The logo images of the deer (Nipissing), eagle (Dokis) and bear (Temagami) have been incorporated to symbolically depict the First Nation communities involved with the project. The main human figure with a central blood drop represents a First Nation person living with diabetes; the secondary figures standing at his side represent the families, clients and service workers who support all people living with diabetes.
HSIF project objectives are:
- To improve the early identification of diabetes and access to health services for First Nations by implementing a culturally safe integrated health system of diabetes care using a community-based clinical approach which combines federal and provincially funded health services; and,
- To improve First Nations ownership of design, delivery and evaluation in a comprehensive approach to diabetes health service delivery, reducing structural barriers and thereby improving measurable outcomes.
*****
For more information contact:
Lydia McKenzie, Health Services Manager, Temagami First Nation
(705) 237-8900 lydia.mckenzie@temgamifirstnation.ca
Andrea J. Williams, Williams Consulting, HSIF Project Manager
(403) 949-5613 andrea@williamsconsulting.ca
