Innovation Fund Project - First Nations
Preventing and Responding to abuse in First Nations Communities
Breaking the cycle of elder abuse in reserves
Work is underway to create education and support materials for health care providers who serve aboriginal populations, to enable them to respond to complex situations of abuse and neglect.
"Abuse of older adults has been identified as a serious problem within the Aboriginal community, and is currently seen as a paramount issue due to the anticipated infusion of settlement money to survivors of Indian Residential Schools," according to Amanda Brown, who the oversees Re:Act Adult Abuse and Neglect Resource for VCH.
"Health care providers who serve these communities need to know how to connect with us, and how to respond to crisis situations," she says.
One of the challenges faced by Brown and her network of designated responders is how to make these materials, and the approaches they advocate, culturally appropriate.
She's asking nurses, social workers, doctors and others across VCH who either work with the Aboriginal population or identifying elder abuse to contact her with the barriers faced and challenges met.
These stories will be extremely valuable as the team develops the materials.
Under the Adult Guardianship Act, VCH staff have the power - and are now required by law - to investigate and respond to situations of suspected abuse, neglect and self-neglect of vulnerable adults.
For more information contact:
- Amanda Brown, Director, Re:Act Adult Abuse and Neglect Response Resource
- Email to: amanda.brown@vch.ca
- Phone: 604-984-5957
Darlene MacLeod, Consultant to the Ontario Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (ONPEA) has been contracted to:
- Revise the REACT materials to include indigenization of the curriculum i.e. cultural competency with specific reference to VCH First Nation communities.
- Revise the REACT materials to include tools that can be utilized by the First Nations communities, Designated Agency Staff, Community Response Networks, First Nation - Health & Human Services Workers (both on and off reserve) to improve capacity to identify, prevent and respond to elder abuse.
- Production of simulation modules – on-line scenarios – set in First Nations setting with First Nation Characters – emphasizing recognition, prevention and response to financial abuse, self-neglect, physical/psychological abuse scenarios.
- End-Users: First Nation – Health & Human Services Workers (community health workers, Band Council Members, etc.); VCH staff; CRN; General Public
Contact Information for Darlene MacLeod:
ddmacleod@gmail.com
What is available now:
- The ONPEA website www.onpea.org has on-line simulations, public service announcements and a curriculum that is available free of charge.
- The Vancouver Coastal Health website has the RE:ACT materials www.vchreact.ca
What you can do to help:
- Identify a contact person in your community to provide information to Darlene MacLeod in the next two months as she develops the materials for March 2008 launch at the VCH Aboriginal Health Conference. Identify artists, actors and musician in your community that might be interested in working on the creative elements of the project.
- Please ask interested volunteers to contact mailto:ddmacleod@gmail.com
- Share the links to ONPEA and RE:ACT with your community health workers and Band Councils as a resource of information to utilize now!
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