Chairman of First Nations Health Authority in Heart Health launches new project
The B.C. Catholic
A new health authority has been established to help improve the health of native people in Western Canada.
Jeff Reading, a Mohawk from the Tyendinaga tribe in Ontario, has become the first chairman of the First Nations Health Authority in Heart Health and Wellness at St. Paul’s Hospital.
“The consequences of not doing it are critical,” Reading said at the Bill Reid Art Gallery in Vancouver after the official announcement Jan. 21.
According to St. Paul’s Foundation, more than one-third of adult native people in Canada have a chronic health problem, and diabetes is at least twice as prevalent in native people as in non-native Canadians.
Reading, who will focus on heart health, said studies show many native people do not have the same access to emergency care that other Canadians do in the critical time after a heart attack.
“The knowledge gathered can be used to help improve health and wellness for all British Columbians,” he said.
Cardiologist Andy Ignaszewski said the newly created post is a “game changer” for St. Paul’s Hospital, where he is the program director for the Heart Health Centre.
St. Paul’s treats 400,000 patients a year, many of whom are native. “We know the prevalence of chronic disease,” he told The B.C. Catholic after the event.
Improving access might not necessarily mean meeting people in person, he said. Skype or Facetime might be options to reach otherwise distant patients.
Another major issue for him is helping reduce the risk factors, such as diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure, and obesity, which lead to serious heart problems.
“It is much more effective if first nations people do the research.” For example, someone who knows the cultural significance of the tobacco plant might have better insights into helping native people quit smoking.
“How do we convince them to have a high vegetable and fruit diet if there are none in the region, or if their cultural diet is mostly meat? How do you promote physical activity if there are no gyms in the area?”
He said Reading, whose own father died of a heart attack, will be instrumental in finding a way that treatment and native values can work together to ward off heart disease.
The position is part of a new collaboration between the First Nations Health Authority, St. Paul’s Hospital, and Simon Fraser University. They have tasked Reading with researching and developing resources on heart health and disease prevention, and call him a voice for advancing health and wellness in native communities.
“We will be solving problems in our community, but we will also be bringing our kindness,” said Evan Adams, CEO of the First Nations Health Authority.
He praised Reading for the “big heart” and “indigenous view” he brings to the task.
