Hospital offers holistic healing

When Frank Beardy entered the new Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre for the grand opening Oct. 15, he was “dumbfounded.”
In various roles, Beardy was part of a process decades in the making, waiting for the opportunity he now had as he strolled into the 140,000 square foot building.
As he reveled in the moment, many people came to speak to him, often offering congratulations for the occasion. All he could do was nod.
Now serving as co-chairman on the Meno Ya Win board, Beardy was seeing the near final state of the health centre. With construction complete, the next step is to start the move from two aging sites. Doors expect to open Nov. 7.
One thing is clear when walking through the halls of the patient care wing – there’s always a view of the outdoors.
The setting is intentional. Designers wanted to create a village-like atmosphere. The idea was to create a home away from home, to create a holistic environment conducive to healing.
The state-of-the art facility, with a price tag of $106 million, is a blend of the old and the new, a merging of modern technology with traditional First Nation principles.
It’s a concept Beardy said was needed to make patients feel as comfortable as possible when seeking treatment. Because 80 per cent of patients served by Meno Ya Win are Aboriginal, it was important to include First Nation concepts of health, healing and wellness to provide culturally-sensitive health care.
“The holistic nature of how we look at our health has to be a part of the healing process,” Beardy said.
Many of the First Nation concepts, which now make up the hospital, were guided by the vision of area Elders. Beardy said the Elders wanted holistic healing to be incorporated in the new health centre.
“As Native people we’ve been removed from that for a number of generations and the Elders are now saying we need to go back to those concepts of healing,” Beardy said.
First Nation patients will continue to receive translation services currently provided at the old sites, but the new health centre will now also offer a food program.
Sioux Lookout, First Nations celebrate new health centre
First Nation people spending time at the hospital will be able to dine on traditional foods such as moose. It took a change in legislation to allow preparation of traditional game in the health centre. A separate kitchen is reserved for this use. It’s just another component of holistic healing.
“Our Elders have always told us that’s part of the healing process, to eat traditional foods,” Beardy said.
A space has also been set aside for ceremonial healing practices and medicine (See related story on opposite page).
While great care has been taken to be mindful of the First Nation people served by the hospital – 28 First Nations communities access the health centre – the concept is not just focused on First Nation people. With the medicine wheel as a guide, the four directions are represented in the design as a symbol that all cultures and peoples are welcome. The goal in building and designing the health centre was to meet the needs of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples.
That means services provided at seven sites throughout Sioux Lookout will now be in one building – community counseling, mental health and addiction services, ambulatory care, long-term care, a pharmacy and more. A CT scanner and mammography unit are also expected in the near future.
The completed hospital is the result of four levels of government coming together to make it happen, Beardy said. It was a long process and one First Nations resisted at first.
During the 1980s and 1990s, when the idea of amalgamating the federal Sioux Lookout Zone Hospital with the provincial Sioux Lookout General Hospital was being discussed, First Nations weren’t keen on the concept. Beardy said First Nations wanted to maintain its relationship with the federal government. First Nation jurisdiction falls into the hands of the federal government and includes such responsibilities as housing, education and health. He said by entering into an agreement with the province, First Nations felt it would water down their relationship with the federal government.
Originally built in the 1950s by the federal government, the Zone Hospital was called the Sioux Lookout Indian Hospital and was used as a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients from First Nations in the Far North. By the 1970s, it was renamed to the Zone and was opened to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal patients.
But by the 1980s, concerns were mounting over the quality of health care for First Nation people. Josias Fiddler, board member for Meno Ya Win, was chief of Sandy Lake in the early 1980s. As chief, he said he faced a lot of questions regarding the quality of health care not only for his community, but also in surrounding First Nations.
He said there were often issues of inadequate translation when care was provided, of airplanes not arriving on time in emergency situations, questions of commitment from nurses in the communities and how First Nation peoples were treated at the Zone Hospital in Sioux Lookout.
“There were a lot of frustrations,” he said.
In 1988, Fiddler and four others from Sandy Lake held a hunger strike. They wanted to raise awareness over the deteriorating conditions of the Zone Hospital and the lack of proper health care in the communities.
That resulted in an extensive review of the health care system in the Sioux Lookout zone. One of the recommendations from the review was to negotiate a plan for one new regional hospital.
It took awhile to get area First Nations on board, not wanting the federal government to release its responsibility for First Nation health. After much debate, First Nations agreed to amalgamate and proceed with one new hospital. In 1997, Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Sioux Lookout, the Ontario government and the federal government signed the Four Party Agreement.
Fiddler said many people came together for a common goal and worked hard to make that happen. The Four Party Agreement set the stage for amalgamation in 2002 and for securing funds to build the new hospital. Both the federal and provincial governments committed funds for construction.
Fiddler believes the vision of the Elders and First Nation leaders has been achieved with the new facility. That vision was to have quality health care for the First Nation communities in the Sioux Lookout district.
The work doesn’t stop here, he said, as the health centre, the town, area First Nations and governments need to continue to work together to make the hospital a good place to be.
With construction of the hospital complete, Fiddler said work has now shifted to the future and to the youth.
“The vision has been achieved, but we have to continue working,” Fiddler said.