Hi. I'm Lindsay Jones. I'm Nlaka'pamux from Kamloops, B.C. I'm a fourth-year nursing student attending TRU. I'm also a member of CINA.
I have three recommendations in response to the suicide epidemic among indigenous people in our communities.
Nursing understands that when working with such a marginalized and vulnerable population, it is salient to work on professional development with regard to building capacities within the communities. Nursing is more than psychomotor skills. It is a relational practice to work in culturally safe ways to build bridges to close the equity gaps.
Research shows that retaining highly trained and effective health care workers is important in providing quality, accessible health care to people living in rural areas. There also needs to be support systems in place for nurses providing care within these communities. Nurses know a community's strengths and how to build them, understanding that solutions come from within the community.
In the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, call to action number eight states:
We call upon the federal government to eliminate the discrepancy in federal education funding for First Nations children being educated on reserves and those First Nations children being educated off reserves.
While the social determinants of the health movement has helped to shift some of the blame off the individuals to political and economic systems, the focus is still on what is under-provided in the community and how those deficiencies negatively affect children and families.
My last recommendation is to build on the idea of health care closer to home. As a foster parent, I believe that instead of removing children from their families and their culture, we as a country and as health care providers need to start fostering the families in the traditional, appropriate ways.
Research has found that adolescents may also be less at risk for suicide if they experience the neurophysiological benefits of connectedness, like believing in one of the values for care for and able to better regulate their emotions through social affiliation and attachment with caring adults.
Starting at the grassroots, nursing can support families to empower their children to build confidence and nurture their opinions so they have a voice and develop coping skills, fostering the families to provide an environment where children thrive, instead of removing these children instead of going from foster home to foster home, which only perpetuates the ongoing issue.
Thank you for this opportunity.