Southern Chiefs Organization - Health Transformation

By Amber Balan, 1st year MDP student

 

The second half of my field placement at Southern Chiefs Organization (SCO), I was involved in work supporting the Health Transformation Team’s health human resource strategy file. I was involved in meeting and speaking to Health and Education Directors from seven different First Nation communities by zoom and in person interviews.  

 

I was invited to many communities and was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Little Black River First Nation on July 27 and toured the health office. Based on the interviews, I was able to see the health inequities faced by First Nations people living on reserve in Southern Manitoba coming from a grassroots level. Social issues on reserve are rampant and the pandemic further exhausted resources. 

 

Several themes emerged that are contributing factors to the overall health inequities faced by peoples living on reserve as well as the lack of access to basic infrastructure and services that are available to peoples living in urban centers. 

 

The work that I have done with Health Transformation gave me a greater understanding of population health.  Communities and populations do not choose to be sick and lifestyle is not a health determinant, rather it is the fallout of colonial imposed policies that have negatively impacted the social determinants of health for First Nations people on reserve. 

 

Health Transformation is in a unique position in time and space where the opportunity to deliver health services for First Nations people can be shaped in a way in which First Nations’ health inequities are properly addressed and services are delivered in a sustainable way.