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NationTalk: The Graphic Leader – CancerCare Manitoba (CCMB), in collaboration with First Nation, Métis, and Inuit partners, has developed a groundbreaking website to assist health care professionals in creating safer and more comprehensive care plans for patients returning to their communities. The Indigenous Community Profiles website serves as a valuable resource, offering geographical and travel information, as well as details on health care and community resources in Indigenous communities.
Dr. Sri Navaratnam, President and CEO, expressed the need for improved access to information about Indigenous community resources after consulting with Indigenous stakeholders. “The Indigenous Community Profiles project reinforces our commitment to promoting culturally appropriate care closer to home and ensuring equitable access to cancer services,” she said.
CancerCare Manitoba serves Indigenous patients across Manitoba and the Kivalliq region of Nunavut. CCMB worked with First Nation, Métis and Inuit partners to design and gather community information for the website profiles. CCMB is proud to recognize our partners who contributed to the Community Profiles including Southern Chiefs Organization, Manitoba Métis Federation, Four Arrows Regional Health Authority, and the Government of Nunavut. CCMB thanks the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer for its generous support as the project funder.
The new website contains Community Profiles for First Nations and Métis communities in Manitoba, and Inuit communities in Sanikiluaq and the Kivalliq region of Nunavut. Each community profile includes important community characteristics and resources available in a community, as well as geographical information about where the community is located.
“What a wonderful website to allow practitioners the ability to learn about the remote Northern communities their clients are from,” said Robyn Ruff, Discharge Coordinator – Nurse Liaison, Kivalliq Inuit Services. “It’s a looking glass into the home communities of Northern residents, improving care by allowing care providers an increased knowledge of the resources available.”
Discharge planning is an important part of the care of individuals who are going home after cancer screening and treatment. It is particularly important when people living with cancer are being discharged home to rural and northern communities. Many of these communities lack the infrastructure of larger urban areas. The Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) was involved with CancerCare Manitoba’s community profiles project from the beginning and helped shape the questions that would be of assistance to CCMB staff when they were looking at the type of resources citizens in different communities had access to. The resulting community profiles will be an asset to CCMB staff and will enable them to accurately plan for follow-up after discharge home.
The Community Profiles project aligns with the Roadmap to Cancer Control for Manitoba (2020) and the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control (2019–2029). Indigenous peoples often experience higher cancer rates and worse outcomes. Between 2004 and 2011, a greater proportion of First Nations people in Manitoba were diagnosed with cancer at stages III and IV compared to the general population. Additionally, First Nation people faced significantly higher cancer-specific mortality rates compared to other Manitobans.[1]
CancerCare Manitoba provides programs and resources for patients and families to help improve access to cancer care. Information is available by calling 204-799-0971 or toll-free at 1-855-881-4395.
Healthcare professionals are encouraged to visit the Indigenous Community Profiles website at cancercare.mb.ca/indigenous-community-profiles.