Lawrence Commanda Health Centre

58 Semo Road
Garden Village, Ontario P2B-3K2
Phone: (705) 753-3312
Fax: (705) 753-5087

Celebrating 25 years The Lawrence Commanda Health Centre of Nipissing First Nation Health Services continues to grow and expand its’ community-based services and programs.  Collaboration and integration are a necessary part of the effort to “support to individuals and families in need” and to “help strengthen our families and communities”.
For 2008-2009 Nipissing First Nation Health Services (NFNHS) acknowledges the peripheral agencies who have contributed:

Bullet Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy
Bullet Chiefs of Ontario
Bullet First Nations and Inuit Health
Bullet Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
Bullet Northeast Local Health Integration Network
Bullet North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit
Bullet Northern Diabetes Health Network
Bullet Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
Bullet Ministry of Health Promotion
Bullet The Provincial Centre for Excellence in Children and Youth Mental Health
Bullet West Nipissing General Hospital

At the heart of these efforts are the people who understand that “our ultimate goal is to help people feel good about themselves”. These 35 staff of NFNHS work together to offer quality services balanced with compassion and creativity.  Further acknowledgement is extended for the support received by leadership, administration and the community. 

Kanahawaytowin – “Taking Care of Each Other’s Spirit”

On Saturday November 15, 2008 more than 75 people attended Kanawayhitowin.  Opening remarks were delivered by Carol Croxon, of the Ojibway Family Resource Centre and opening songs were offered by the Star Spirit Singers, Anishinabek Weshikiniijig Youth Drum Group and Lightening Drum.  Sgt. Ken Dokis of APS introduced the guest speakers. This powerful presentation on domestic violence was facilitated by Staff Sgt, Kirk Kinghorn of the Anishinabek Police Headquarters and featured Nipissing First Nation community member Vicky Laforge. Vicky spoke of a tragic domestic violence incident involving both of her parents. She talked about the importance of telling other people when you hear or see this type of abuse happening.  Dave Dale from the North Bay Nugget came to Garden Village to attend and cover this event. 

Child Car Restraint Project

Nipissing First Nation Health Services in coordination with the Chiefs of Ontario Office participated in an injury prevention initiative designed to address the number one cause for death in Canadian children, car crashes.  Following a week of intensive training by St. John’s Ambulance the Community Health Nurse and Community Health Representative received Car Seat Technician certification enabling them to offer clinics in the community about the proper installation of car seats and choosing the right car seat for a child’s height and weight.  The test group consisted of 16 parents/ expecting moms between the ages of 20-40 years old who had one to three children each.  Three different sessions were held to complete the consents, complete pre-tests, review the details of the project and view the video “Is Your Child Safe and Secure?”  As a next step car seat clinics were held in Duchesnay (three participants) and Garden Village (13 participants).  Parents were advised at the beginning of the project that commitment was required from them to complete this project from start to finish.  We are proud to report the project had a 100% completion rate.  It was a great learning experience for the trained technicians and the community as a whole to be involved as one of the first community demonstration sites.

First Nations Public Health Project (Panorama)

Under the mandate of resolution 06/47 of the Chiefs of Ontario a tri-partite non-political working group continues to work toward the development and implementation of public health information system integrated with the province.  This would mean immunization information (records) would be available to all Ontario residents including on and off reserve First Nations.  Since the launch of the project in October 2007 working groups have been committed to providing Aboriginal (First Nation) specific input to Panorama (application software) to better reflect communities.  It is anticipated that NFN along with the other 5 initial subscriber communities will roll out Phase 1 by March 2010 with Phase 2 and Phase 3 roll outs scheduled by March 2012.  The NFN Home and Community Care Coordinator, the only FN representative, participated with Ontario public health unit nurses to provide feedback on Panorama.  The Health Services Manager currently sits as a member of both the Knowledge Management Advisory Group and the Change Management Working Group for this project.

Mental Illness Awareness Week 2008

Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW) 2008 was launched with a Coffee Break information session with 22 people attending.

Mid –week on October 8th a dinner and information session with Vicky Laforge was the highlight for MIAW here in NFN. Thirty people came out to hear Vicky share her personal experience after the traumatic deaths of her parents due to a domestic violence incident here on Nipissing First Nation.  Vicky spoke of her struggles with post traumatic stress disorder, depression, and the stigma attached to mental illness.   As one of the “Faces of Mental Illness Campaign 2008” Vicky is a champion for mental illness and also for domestic violence.

Mental Wellness Teams Pilot Project

Supporting an original idea offered to First Nations and Inuit Health (FNIH) in 2001, NFN and nine other communities were invited to participate in a Mental Wellness Team Pilot Project that would offer enhanced specialized services and resources to front-line community workers in the area of mental health and addictions. The NFN Mental Health Therapist now participates as a member of the project Steering Committee. Leadership, stakeholders and community workers were engaged and in October 2008 NFN completed a community consultation with findings included in a final report.  Initial comments from FNIH suggest a high degree of interest and support for this project that will likely be endorsed and supported. This project holds additional promise as other projects are being developed across the country (up to five in total) but the project in this territory is the most advanced and the first to seek implementation funding

Critical Incident Response/ Community Mobilization Award

NFN was successful in receiving funding through the Provincial Centre of Excellence on Child and Youth Mental Health through the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) to begin the process of community engagement, training and development of a community driven Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) guided by a project coordinator and an NFN partner’s table.  One of the three community information sessions brought together pipe carriers in the community, the first experience of this kind, to assist in starting the dialogue on taking care of each other.  Youth also identified specific goals and interests with participation in a “Circle of Courage” and in training to support their peers.  This project offered a YouCAN training modules “Peer Circles and Mediation” for nine students and “Peer Helper and Facilitation” for seven students.  By supporting increased resiliency and coping skills the training also provides the youth with opportunities for succession as future CIRT members for NFN.  The project also sponsored two sessions of Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) for 18 people and one Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) session for 24 people with eight people trained in both. The Community Mobilization Award (CMA) project ended in January 2009 and although a team was not realized as originally envisioned, the CMA pilot project supported a direction for NFN and training opportunities continue to move in the direction of developing a team that is community owned and rooted in tradition. NFN efforts in critical response planning have been recognized with the Psychologist and Mental Health Therapist co-facilitating a presentation in Wikwemikong (February 25th).

YouCAN “Peer Circles and Mediation”

Pandemic Planning

In follow-up to the 2007 pandemic table top exercise hosted by Health Canada NFN Health Services hosted their own on February 19, 2009. Focusing on business continuity, the one day session highlighted key NFN services that would be required to continue in the event of a pandemic.  With 29 participants in attendance working on various scenarios the key lessons learned were: that NFN requires a business continuity plan; more community awareness on the potential impact of a pandemic is needed; that NFN needs to define a communication strategy and the roles and responsibilities of essential services workers.  For 2009-2010 priorities in the area of pandemic planning include completion of a clinic flow plan for mass immunizations, hosting a mock mass immunization clinic, increasing awareness of Pneumococcal vaccine and promoting awareness of the NFN Pandemic Plan.

NFN Case Management

In February 2009 NFN began dialogue on the need to develop a Nipissing First Nation Case Management system that offers increased collaboration, coordination and integration of services across all departments to better serve NFN community members and particularly vulnerable individuals and families.  There is a need for consistent information about roles, eligibility, mandate and responsibilities of departments of NFN in order to provide more collaborative and integrated care.   Many NFN departments and staff are engaged in dialogue on developing such a system and have identified the need for a facilitated process to plan, develop and implement this system including training for staff.

Northern Ontario School of Medicine

With the third year of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) partnership underway the likelihood of more physicians in the north is closer than ever.  In 2008 NFNHS was pleased to host Stacey Erven, Lynn Noel-de-Tilly and Penny Forth.  Claire Campbell, as both the Local Community Coordinator and Clinical Learning Facilitator established a schedule that introduced the students to clinical and community based activities.  This year the Mental Health Therapist and the Nutritionist show cased one session of Kids Can Cook with Confidence, Lillian Pitawanikwat a visiting Traditional Healer offered medicine wheel teachings and Mike Couchie offered a teaching sweat lodge.  Community members hosted these students for the one-month placement providing a unique opportunity to experience NFN.

 

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