March 31, 2015
Story and photo by Heather Kipling
Aboriginal patients and their families now have a place to gather for spiritual healing, following the opening of the Aboriginal Cultural Room at the Wetaskiwin Hospital and Care Centre.
Opened in February, the Aboriginal Cultural Room provides a quiet, comfortable space on the hospital’s third floor where patients and families can meet with an Elder for prayer and
traditional ceremonies, such as smudging.
“To the Aboriginal population, health is holistic and is made up of emotional, mental, physical and spiritual well-being,” says Tracy Lee, Aboriginal Health Lead with the Alberta Health Services Aboriginal Health Program in the Central Zone. “It can be a bit of a culture shock to Aboriginal patients when they walk into a hospital, so having this room also helps us in creating a culturally safe home away from home.
“This room is a place that can help provide a balance between the highly clinical world of a hospital, and the spiritual well-being of patients.”
The room is the result of collaborative efforts between the hospital, the Aboriginal Health Program’s Central Zone team and the federally funded Maskwacis Health Services. It is the second of its kind in the Central Zone; the first opened at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre in January of last year.
Aboriginal Health Co-ordinator Claudette Yellowbird says the room reflects how voices from two worlds – the traditional Aboriginal one and the western medical one – came together.
“One day I needed a quiet area to get my thoughts together, so I went into the chapel and noticed an Aboriginal family there embracing each other,” Yellowbird recalls. “As soon as they noticed me and learned I worked with the hospital, they shared the trauma they were faced with and requested a place for smudging.
“This room was one of the major requests from the First Nations patients, families and frontline staff at the hospital, and it became a priority to everyone working to make it happen.”
Lee, too, recognizes the importance of having a place for families to come together.
“Our kinship system in Aboriginal families is very unique,” she says. “Our families are large and cultural adoptions between families can make the family even larger. This room will allow those families to provide support in a culturally meaningful way.”
The room’s presence will also help provide cultural awareness. The Wetaskiwin Hospital and Care Centre serves an area with 35,000 residents, including Maskwacis to the south, and provides health care for its Four Band membership: Samson, Ermineskin, Louis Bull, and Montana First Nations. “We are pleased to be able to show our support and respect for the health and traditions of our Aboriginal communities through the dedication of this space,” says Brenda Zilkie, manager at the Wetaskiwin Hospital and Care Centre. “The Aboriginal people we serve will have a safe space where traditional cultural values and beliefs can be practised.”
Local Elder Wilson Okeymaw, who led a traditional Cree pipe ceremony to help celebrate the room’s opening, agrees.
“This is a very positive step in the right direction,” he says. “It provides people with a place where they can go and sit quietly to meditate or pray, where they can feel comfortable in their spirit and in their heart and can have a connection with the Creator.
“It’s a place that can help people get well and provide them with hope.”
