Health Centre

The Aboriginal Head Start Program is our pre-kindergarten program for children grounded in Aboriginal culture. The program curriculum follows the medicine wheel with mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual teachings. The program also offers speech therapy, access to Jordan’s Principle and many other services.

Children enrolled in Aboriginal Head Start have the opportunity to learn the Cree language and participate in elder visits, where they learn traditional knowledge of ceremony and protocols. They are provided with healthy food and snacks daily. Once they graduate from the program and transition into Anzac Elementary, we will also work with the school to ensure that the children are successful in the school system.

If needed, parents may be provided with referrals to community programs and workshops.

The primary role of the Community Health Representative (CHR) is to promote wellness, protect health, and prevent injury and illness in community settings.

Our Community Health Representative works closely with our public health nurses to provide our community with the following services:

• Chronic disease and injury prevention services, including physical and nutritional activities
• Diabetes education, screening clinics, training, nutrition classes and management
• Communicable disease education and prevention
• Water testing
• Non-Insured Health Benefit navigation and advocacy

In conjunction with the Aboriginal Head Start Program, the Health Centre provides an on-reserve daycare service for children 19 months to 6 years old from the community and surrounding area. The daycare program is located within the same centre as the Head Start Program, giving children the opportunity to participate in cultural programming and activities led by qualified Early Learning educators and receive health-conscious meals. Once children graduate from the daycare, they will transition into the Head Start program.

The daycare is open 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday, and Friday 7:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. to accommodate parents' work schedules. We currently have a waitlist for both Head Start and daycare programs.

Environmental Health includes the following services:

• Monitoring the safety of the water supply
• Health teaching on environmental issues, for example: sanitation and food handling
• Assisting in the investigation of outbreaks of food and waterborne illness
• Participating in disaster planning

Health Promotion and Injury Prevention includes:

• Health teaching conducted during home visits, in schools, and other community settings
• Prevention and control of communicable diseases
• Promotion of immunization
• Screening programs, including diabetes, vision, and hearing
• Providing first aid, if needed

Home and Community Care Services help people to receive care at home, rather than in a hospital or long-term care facility, and to live as independently as possible in the community. Home and community care are delivered by our Home Care Nurse on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and our Home Care Assistant from Mondays to Fridays.

Home Care staff:

• Help people maintain or improve their health status and quality of life
• Assist people in remaining as independent as possible
• Support families coping with a family member's need for care
• Help people stay at, or return home, and receive needed treatment, rehabilitation, or palliative care
• Provide informal/family caregivers with the support they need

Services delivered in the home can help people with minor health problems and disabilities as well as those who need intensive and sophisticated services and equipment. Home Care services may include:

• Client assessment
• Case management
• Home care nursing services
• In-home respite care services
• Access to medical supplies and equipment
• Information and data collection
• Collaboration with program workers within MCH, community care, and home care
• Supportive services such as palliative care
• Wound care
• Vital checks
• Personal care such as help with bathing, dressing, and feeding,
• Referrals to community supports

Maternal Child Health (MCH) is for families with children 0-6 years old. MCH works closely with the public health nurses to provide:

• Pre- and post-natal care programs for new mothers and fathers
• Lactation consulting and breastfeeding education

Our MCH worker program includes the following:

• Nutrition screening, education, and counselling
• Nutrition programming
• Facilitating cooking classes, community kitchens, and gardens
• FASD education in collaboration with the community health representative
• Parenting classes
• Domestic violence prevention and education
• Peer support groups
• Home visitation programs for families

The Medical Transportation Program is set up through Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) to provide registered Members of Fort McMurray 468 First Nation with access to medically necessary health services at the nearest appropriate health facility, in accordance with the NIHB Program Mandate and the NIHB/MT Policy Framework.

The Health Centre will provide ground transportation within the limits of the reserve and to the nearest medical services, including Fort McMurray. The program includes medical transportation coordination, such as booking appointments for medical, dental, and mental health counselling. If a specialist appointment is outside of Fort McMurray, our medical transportation clerk will set up a referral to the medical transportation office in Edmonton. The program will provide meals and accommodation for approved medical travel, as outlined in Appendix NIHB/MT-B, when away from the reserve or outside of the community.

For more information or to book a medical appointment with our Medical Transportation Clerk, contact the Health Centre.

The Health Centre provides access to free counselling through Way Points every Wednesday to anyone residing on-reserve. The Health Centre also offers suicide intervention programming for our community members, including access to suicide workshops and educational programming. Additionally, members can access grief counselling, general counselling, and youth-specific counselling through the Health Centre.

The NNADAP program encompasses all aspects of addiction. The program works to support community members in reducing levels of alcohol and other substance abuse within the community. It builds capacity within the community to develop and deliver culturally appropriate community-based addictions services.

NNADAP’s purpose is to:

• Increase awareness and understanding among the community members about alcohol and substance abuse, as well as promote an alternative, healthier lifestyle.
• Strengthen links between community-based programs and residential treatment.
• Provide support to individuals and families of those in post-treatment.

NNADAP is focused on the following areas of addiction:

1. Prevention – provides culturally appropriate programs to educate and promote addiction awareness and addiction-free lifestyles.
2. Intervention – provides appropriate assessment of clients dealing with existing abuse problems at the earliest possible stage, prepares clients for entry into residential treatment or other rehab/treatment programs, and provides short-term counselling in crisis situations as well as outpatient (also known as ‘in-community’) counselling services.
3. Aftercare – works to prevent alcohol and drug abuse from recurring, provides aftercare to clients returning from treatment, and maintains a link with the relevant treatment centres concerning client care and progress. It also provides skills in effective prevention/intervention strategies that address the challenges of addictions.

NNADAP services include:

• Self-change – materials, books, websites
• Self-help groups – support for individuals who are working to change their addictive behaviours
• Harm reduction – opioid awareness, safe consumption
• Counselling – individual, group, couples, and family therapy
• Alcohol and drug education
• Medication information
• Withdrawal management – short term help dealing with substance use withdrawal
• Cultural healing – smudging, sweats, culture camps, working with elders, storytelling, teachings
• Holistic approach – stress or anger management, grief and trauma, healthy eating
• Referral to in-patient treatment centres

For more information, contact NNADAP using the information below.

Our Public Health Nurses perform a variety of services for our Nation members every Tuesday and Thursday. These services include:

• Communicable Disease control
• Immunization services
• Maternal Child Health Services (pre- and postnatal care, breastfeeding support, newborn metabolic screening, and well-child clinic)

Our nurses also work closely with our Community Health and Maternal Child Health Programs. Through this collaboration, we can provide our community with the most up-to-date information. Our nurses are contracted and, therefore, are not responsible for our employees or for overseeing their work. They follow the direction of the Health Director to provide consultation and advice on wellness, promoting the well-being of the community.