Grant: Project Grant

A major priority of three communities in the Northwest Territories (NT) (Inuvik, Fort Good Hope, and Yellowknife) is improving the experience of patients and access to healthcare services. The team has worked with the three communities for almost twenty years, and, having very well established, trusted, and respectful relationships, has been asked to address the communities' concerns. For residents of remote NT communities, basic health services are provided through a nurse-based primary care model, supported by visiting doctors and telehealth services. Residents who require more than basic primary care must travel to services that are only available in regional centres, or in southern provinces. Accessing these services can involve lengthy wait times, as well as long distance travel and time away from home communities, family, and social support networks for weeks at a time. In this project, the communities of Yellowknife, Inuvik, and Fort Good Hope with a Community Advisory Board and the team plan to: 1) Gather community members' perspectives via sharing circles using Two-Eyed Seeing to improve access and availability of healthcare services; 2) Develop, implement, and evaluate a community-driven and community-led program to improve access to and experience with health services that will take place on-the-land and alongside Elders, traditional knowledge holders, and healers; and 3) Share materials and all findings with community, territorial, and national organizations, as well as healthcare providers and policymakers to ensure culturally appropriate health service delivery. This project will generate new knowledge on the impact of community-led, locally-designed health promotion programs and the importance of utilizing Indigenous methods for implementation, documentation, and dissemination to improve healthcare access and experience with NT communities.