In May 2024, the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) hosted the Health Care Assistant Education Forum Weaving Health, Wisdom and Culture, where health care assistants were recognised for their hard work and dedication.
The 2-3 day forum sessions were held on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) People and were attended by over 110 Health Care Assistants (HCAs). Knowledge Keeper Lucy Barney facilitated the forum with grace, humor and wisdom, sharing her gifts of cultural knowledge, practices and connections.
HCAs are non-regulated health care providers who provide personal care to members of our community in our home and community care programs. They are an integral part of home and community care services. We celebrate and stand with them for the love and relationships they bring to the people they serve in our communities.
The forum incorporated cultural support and practices, self-care, wellness, and connection with one another. HCAs knitted wool headbands with Muskwam weaver Rita Compst, learned about plant medicines with Suquamish ethnobotanists Sees and Senakwila Wiss, and honored their holistic health with sacred hoop teachings shared by Knowledge Keeper Shirley David. The Indian Residential School Survivors Association honored the spirit of HCA with daily cultural support.
The education section of the forum featured a busy agenda covering topics such as dementia, elder incivility, intentional and unintentional harm, Indigenous grief and loss, cultural safety and humility, arthritis, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Participants also had the opportunity to practice practical skills on topics such as diabetic blood glucose meter checks, vital signs, medication support, respiratory care, skin and wound care, naloxone, falls prevention, palliative symptoms, nutrition and tuberculosis testing support.
The sessions also included cultural performances, including dancing and drumming by Love Medicine, and in the second week, Francis Lewis, his wife, Myrissa Henry, and their daughter, Roberta Lewis, from the Squamish Nation, shared their talents of singing and storytelling. After the performances, the health care assistants were presented with cedar roses at an awards ceremony. We applaud the contributions of health care assistants in the health and wellness journey of BC's Indigenous communities.
