Indigenous Peoples Of Canada Bear A Disproportionate Hepatitis C Disease Burden

Anne Fadiman’s novel, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, addresses key concerns regarding health and medicinal relationships with cultural beliefs. She challenges readers to consider what is known about western medicinal practices and beliefs, based on science, and recognize its effectiveness when paired with cultural understanding. This novel portrays some of the greatest medicinal and health challenges and cultural failures of western societies. There were several cultural competency themes integrated throughout the book, however, it surprised me at how distant western practices and the Hmong’s healing methods were at the beginning. It seemed as if it would be a stretch to form a connection between these two extremities,

For centuries, Medicine Wheel teachings have been used by Indigenous peoples to guide their life’s journey. The delicate balance of the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical aspects of a Medicine Wheel, when influenced can become imbalanced. Such influences on a Medicine Wheel may be the social determinants of health or historical determinants. If the Medicine Wheel becomes imbalanced due to these determinants, it has the potential to “…reverberate through individuals, families, and entire populations,” (National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health, 2015, para. 1). Unfortunately, many individuals who have experienced this kind of multi-generational trauma are at a higher risk of becoming depressed or turning to substance abuse as a coping mechanism. By addressing the four components of the Medicine Wheel through culturally appropriate means and time, hopefully, the on-going healing process will continue.

The Cherokee nation of Oklahoma is one of the many native Indian tribes that place a great emphasis on health care. There are noticeable efforts in improving the health system in the Cherokee nation as well as the health of its individuals. For a long time, the Cherokee nation has engaged in successful health care experiences such as building health centers, launching health programs or even individually engaging in the health field to improve the overall healthcare in the nation.

Different kinds of cancer, diabetes, infectious diseases as well as chronic diseases that was once unknown to the indigenous people has been on the rise within the

According to Vass, Mitchell, and Dhurrkay (2011), the incidence of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, renal disease, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive airway disease among Indigenous Australians is quite significant. In addition, the presence of mental health conditions and infectious diseases such as scabies, skin infections and rheumatic fever has also attributed considerably to the disease burden (Vass, et al, 2011). As a disability support worker, I had the opportunity to look after indigenous clients. With my experience working with them, it shed some light on me with how they value their culture and gave me an insight on their view about health concerning issues. I had my misconceptions about how aboriginal people

Carson, B., Dunbar, T., Chenhall, R. D., & Bailie, R. (2007). Social determinants of Indigenous health. Allen & Unwin.

Though American Indians are enjoying an independent public health system with above $3 billion funds provided by Congress annually for delivering healthcare services to them, still figure and facts on health status of American Indians reveal that they are facing many difficulties and have to suffer from diverse type of illness and disease at a misappropriate level. Since long it was identified by medical communities that there are wide spread diseases diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis, suicide, unintentional injuries, and other health conditions among American Indian and they are dying of these diseases at shocking rates (American Heart Association [AHA], 2010). Through this essay I want to discuss the healthcare status of American Indians in the perspective of their culture as how it impacted and lead to develop mistrust between amongst the medical community and American Indians.

With regards to this, healthcare workers also identified a number of emerging positive attitudes across Indian country. Tribes of Native American communities, for example, report that they are taking steps themselves to eliminate abuse. The feeling is growing that the best--perhaps only way--to overcome Indian alcohol and substance abuse

The diabetes epidemic within this demographic is being combated via multiple channels by a host of characters. The federal government, for one, has been active in addressing this issue. The CDC currently works to reduce diabetes-related health disparities in Native American communities by funding and supporting national organizations to engage and collaborate with local partners in nearly twenty communities (CDC, 2014b). For instance, the CDC provides funding to the Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP), which works closely with communities in Louisiana, Michigan, and Kansas to create culturally appropriate and long-term diabetes interventions. One intervention in Kansas, the Better Health Cooking Skills Class, teaches community

Despite enjoying excellent health and receiving comprehensive and universal healthcare access, Canada has seen continuing healthcare inequality especially among those people living at or below the poverty level and those who are members of the Aboriginal Peoples. The greatest impact of this disparity is evidenced through earlier mortality rates and greater incidences of injury and illness. Nowhere in Canada is this more true than among the Aboriginal Peoples, who, for example, have the highest rate or and risk for Type 2 Diabetes. This risk costs Canada an additional 18 billion dollars CAD every year (Strategic Initiatives and Innovations Directorate, 2011).

In that regard, the Cherokee Nation is collaborating with specialized people at both the University of Oklahoma and the Center for Dieses Control and Preventions to limit the spread of Hepatitis C among tribal members (Stogsdill, 2016). Moreover, they established a Hepatitis C eradication program that is consistently progressing in treating and diagnosing patients. One of the program’s aspects is to send a nurse to investigate in the patient case. The nurse works to identify the cause of Hepatitis C and tracks people who engage in similar activities to test them. Such activities can be getting tattoos, using drugs or sharing needles (Murphy, 2016). The program targets people between ages of 20 to 69 years old, because they are more prominent to be infected. As stated by Jorege Mera, the CN’s Health Services Director of Infectious Diseases, the aim is to protect at least 85% of the infected group (Murphy, 2016). Altogether, the program is still improving and saving many Cherokee Nation citizens from the painful long-term consequences of Hepatitis C. Establishing Health programs are not the only method to advance the health care system, but also building hospitals and health

Healthcare is an ever changing entity with an ever changing population of clients. In current day 2016, the United Sates has become a melting pot of many different cultural backgrounds, which has led to changes within the system to accommodate the patient base. Unfortunately, not all changes have been able to effectively reach any and all persons from every background. We still see language and cultural barriers that have direct correlation to the inability to seek healthcare and or the ability to change cultural perspectives to ensure healthy lifestyles. Within this paper, the health of American Indian and Alaskan Native populations will be discussed along with the barriers to care and the

Throughout history, Aboriginal Canadian’s have had to endure many social injustices which have negatively affected their overall health and well-being. These injustices include items such as assimilation, oppression, segregation, and racism. While all of these injustices have resulted in poor socioeconomic and health related issues, this student feels that the introduction of alcohol has greatly added to the deterioration of Aboriginal people’s health and well-being. In fact, “75 percent of all [Aboriginal] residents feel alcohol use is a problem in their community” (Khan, 2014, para. 11). What is even more alarming to learn is that alcohol related deaths are four to nine times higher for Aboriginal Canadians opposed to non-Aboriginal Canadians (Belanger, 2014). For the purpose of this paper, this student will highlight the precipitating factor which lead to alcohol abuse, consider the negative effects associated with alcohol and how they impact Aboriginal communities, describe how one can develop a community based plan, and determine whether or not the community based plan will help to reduce alcohol abuse within Aboriginal communities.

The concern of social issue in this study is the disproportionate burden of chronic kidney disease in Indigenous Australians. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suffer considerably higher rates of chronic kidney disease than the non-Indigenous population in which 11% of those getting treatment for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) are Indigenous people. On the other hand, the population of Indigenous Australians is only around 3% of the total population in Australia (Anderson, Cunningham, Devitt, & Cass, 2013; Anderson, Devitt, Cunningham, Preece, & Cass, 2008). Therefore, such condition indicates a serious public health problem due to several barriers that affect Indigenous people’s response towards ESKD and its treatments. Living in remote area with poor health facilities creates a constraint for Aboriginal people to receive equitable treatments while renal specialist, renal transplantation and dialysis services tend to be allocated in the urban area (Cass, Cunningham, Snelling, Wang, & Hoy, 2004; Preston-Thomas, Cass, & O 'Rourke, 2007). Patients with ESKD have to attend dialysis treatment three times a week. Hence, Indigenous people who come from a remote area must leave their community to get dialysis medication. Coming from low socio-economic status and education level, Indigenous people also have to face some difficulties to engage with the treatment services. Effective communication between Indigenous people and health providers during the treatment process might

Cindy Lattie Instructor: Virginia Sullivan HPR 232: Disease Process and Treatment November 8, 2014 Hepatitis C Case Study Outline I. Liver and Biliary System II. The liver is located beneath the diaphragm in the upper abdomen. The primary functions of the liver include: a. Production of bile b. Production of proteins for blood plasma c. Conversion of glucose into glycogen d. Regulation of amino acids in the blood e. Processing of hemoglobin f. Conversion of ammonia to urea g. Clearing drugs and toxic substances from the blood h. Regulating clotting of the blood i. Producing immune factors and removing bacteria from the bloodstream