‘A Matter of Trust’: The Grim Reality Behind Indigenous Vaccine Fears
The BC government has prioritized remote First Nations communities. But a record of health-care racism has left many skeptical.
Amanda Follett Hosgood is The Tyee’s northern B.C reporter. Twitter: @amandajfollett.
Moira Wyton is The Tyee’s health reporter. Twitter: @moirawyton. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative. SHARES Some Indigenous people’s fear of the vaccine is not rooted in ‘conspiracy theory,’ says one researcher, but in ‘well-documented fact of Indigenous people’s treatment by the health-care system that is brutally unjust.’
Photo by Andrew Vaughn-Pool, the Canadian Press.
Family physicians can also be hesitant to adopt safer supply approaches like prescribing pharmaceutical alternatives to illicit drugs, even to people at extremely high risk of overdosing. “We have mountains and forests and rivers and we have so much to work through to get people the care that they need,” said Hodgson, the practice consultant for substance use with the First Nations Health Authority. But soon she will have one more option for patients who use substances. Hodgson is among 30 registered and psychiatric nurses in British Columbia who will be able to prescribe Suboxone, a prescription opioid substitute, by the end of February. The approach is part of a new effort to prevent overdoses and deaths made possible by a September order from Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry granting nurses prescribing powers to treat substance use.
âThis can really save someoneâs lifeâ: Some B.C. nurses soon able to prescribe opioid substitute Moira Wyton, Local Journalism Initiative
Kate Hodgson says nurses can increase access to treatment options in remote places, including First Nations communities.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED February 11, 2021 - 8:00 PM Working in small northern and interior First Nations communities scattered across hills and winding valleys, registered nurse Kate Hodgson says finding treatment options for people who use substances can be just as difficult as navigating the landscape itself. Many communities are visited by a family doctor only one or two days a week. Travel to larger centres with more resources can be expensive, dangerous or even impossible with bad weather.
Clayton had his own close call after testing positive for the virus.
In early January, he was isolating at a Terrace hotel near Mills Memorial Hospital almost 150 kilometres south of his home.
His father was also isolating in the hotel while his mom had been admitted to the hospital, which is one of three COVID-19 emergency response centres in the North. “She didn’t want to go to the hotel. She was scared to be by herself,” Clayton says.
During a routine call, a nurse asked him to check his oxygen levels. They were dangerously low. She told him to call an ambulance.