Hot Springs Cove Community, Hesquiaht Nation. (Image: Ha-Shilth-Sa Newspaper)

The BC Emergency Medicine Network is part of a collaborative project to improve emergency care for remote First Nations communities. The project was named ‘Kwiis hen niip’ by an elder, the Nuu-chah-nulth term for ‘Change’.

The project was named ‘Kwiis hen niip’ by an elder, the Nuu-chah-nulth term for ‘Change’.

Through engagement and collaboration, the team is developing actionable items to improve the delivery of emergency care in these four remote communities.

4 First Nations Partners

6 Intervention Themes 

Three out of four nations recently appointed a First Responder Coordinator, responsible for supporting programming and training to bolster emergency response within their communities. The fourth coordinator will be appointed soon.

There are also plans to develop a Nuu Chah Nulth-based educational video on CPR. This work is funded by Heart & Stroke and grants received by participating medical students.

The Kwiis hen niip project is a collaboration between the Nuu Chah Nulth Tribal Council, BC Emergency Medicine Network, UBC Department of Emergency Medicine, BC Emergency Health Services, the First Nations Health Authority, Island Health, Heart & Stroke, Telus, the Justice Institute of British Columbia, and four Nuu-chah-nulth nations. The research project is a four-year partnership funded by CIHR.

For more information on this project, please get in touch with Nicole Malcomson, Community Coordinator, at Nicole.Malcomson@nuuchahnulth.org, or Sharla Drebit, EM Network Operations Director, at sharla.drebit@ubc.ca.

See original news article in Ha-Shilth-Sa Newspaper and Toronto Star article.