ICHR recognizes the importance of education for northerners and work with national and international partners to promote education, training, and exchanges.
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Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
In a landmark agreement for northern health research, ICHR signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Toronto in January 2010. Susan Chatwood and Stephanie Fox have been recognized as Assistant Professors of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Associate Members of the School of Graduate Studies. These affiliations recognize ICHR’s role in advising and supervising graduate students and conducting research which conforms to high standards of research integrity. This partnership could not have been possible without the sustained efforts and support of ICHR’s mentor and advisor Dr. Kue Young.Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
The Dalla Lana School of Public Health works closely with ICHR to support northern-based faculty and public health education [link].
- Dr. Howard Hu, Director and Professor of Public Health Sciences
- Dr. Kue Young, MD, PhD, FRCPC, Professor and Director, Collaborative Program in Aboriginal Health
Faculty
- Susan Chatwood, Assistant Professor (non-status)
- Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox, Assistant Professor (non-status)
Past Students [see student pages]
- Karolina Machalek, MPH
- Andrew Bresnahan, MA
- Hilary Blackett, MPH
- Dan Miller, MA
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Dechinta Bush University: Centre for Research and Learning
Dechinta Bush University and Centre for Research and Learning is a northern-led initiative to deliver land-based, university-accredited educational experiences. Initiated by a group of young Yellowknifers, the program seeks to engage northern and southern youth in transformative curricula based on the needs of Canada’s north. ICHR has been aiding this novel community-based initiative with teaching, the development of a health curriculum and by hosting and maintaining its website dechinta.ca as in-kind support.
The pilot semester of Dechinta took place in June 2010. The first group of students learned about Creative Writing and Communications, and Northern Governance with Richard Van Camp, Stephanie Fox, and Glen Coulthard and featured guests François Paulette, Stephen Kakfwi, and Fort Good Hope elders Mary Barnaby and Judy Lafferty.
ICHR in partnership with the Universities of Alberta and Toronto delivered a Health Promotion Planning course coordinated by Denise Kurszewski as part of the pilot semester. The students also participated in traditional cultural events throughout the week. Featured guests and presenters included Tłįcho community member John B. Zoe, Elder Jane Dragon of Fort Smith, Olympian Sharon Firth, health promoters from the Government of the NWT, and University of Toronto Professor Suzanne Jackson. Throughout the course, there were also Elders present from the Yellowknife Dene. Funding for the health component was provided by the University of Toronto Aboriginal Initiatives.
Link: www.dechinta.ca
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Summer Institute in Circumpolar Health Research
In 2010, the Summer Institute in Circumpolar Health Research met with great success in its first outing as an annual site for international research training. Hosted by the National Institute of Public Health of Denmark and co-organized by the University of Alaska (Anchorage), University of Oulu, ICHR and its Greenlandic counterpart, the summer course offering was organized at the same time as the Annual Meeting of the International Network for Circumpolar Health Research (INCHR) in Copenhagen, May 2010. This took full advantage of the gathering of professionals and scholars for a memorable week of activities.
The first of the two-day graduate courses focused on dietary assessment methods used in primary epidemiological studies of Arctic populations including nutritional anthropometry and methods of measuring physical activity. The second day reviewed the theoretical and methodological perspectives on health disparities as well as basic epidemiological concepts for measuring disparities and causes of disparities. An international team of eminent scholars led both courses, sharing their extensive experience with up-and-coming researchers from across the circumpolar world.
The Summer Institute laid a strong foundation for international graduate training and a vibrant circumpolar health community.
The Institute was so successful that new course offerings were organized for the next Annual Meeting of INCHR in Oulu, Finland, 2011.
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Public Health Officer Program
The Canadian Public Health Service was created as a response to one of the key recommendations made in the Naylor Report produced after the SARS crisis in 2003. This program places Public Health Agency of Canada staff, known as public health officers (PHOs) within provincial, territorial, and local health authorities and public health-oriented non-governmental organizations in order to build public health capacity in these regions. The PHOs also serve as support in the event of an outbreak of disease and can be mobilized to assist with special event health surveillance. This allows PHOs to receive field experience and training for a future in Canada’s public health workforce while building the capacity of the host organization.Moreover, a companion EC Development Program was designed by the Public Health Agency of Canada to address the increasing need to build their workforce in the specialized areas of epidemiology, biostatistics, and policy analysis, due to projected high levels of retirement in the near future. It is a competency-based training program that prepares participants for public health service and permits career advancement within the Public Health Agency of Canada.
After completing her MSc through the Queen’s University and ICHR in 2009, Bryany Denning returned to the Institute as the regional Public Health Officer for a two year term. She was also part of the EC Development Program. Her research projects was designed to address the core competencies of public health, and included secondary data analysis on the Canadian Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect and the First Nations Regional Health Survey in partnership with Dene Nation, analysis of data housed in the Circumpolar Observatory, and a health promotion project designed to engage men in addressing the issue of male violence.
Research Affiliate Program (RAP)
The Research Affiliate Program (RAP) is a Public Service Commission (PSC) Program designed to give post-secondary students experience in applied research (design, execution, evaluation), to attain such knowledge and skills required to graduate. It is also designed to help the Government of Canada conduct research while retaining possession of existing intellectual property when promoting the release of scientific findings.
Students are normally placed with ongoing research operations in federal government facilities. ICHR has hosted four research affiliates — Bryany Denning, Karolina Machalek, Andrew Bresnahan, and Hilary Blackett — through the Public Health Agency of Canada. These students also received supplementary funding from the CIHR Team in Circumpolar Health.
Aboriginal Human Resources Development AgreementsThrough its Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy (AHRDS), the Government of Canada supports Aboriginal people (First Nations, Inuit and Métis) through targeted investments to improve their skills development and employability, and to help them secure long-term jobs. Under this Strategy, Aboriginal organizations design and deliver employment programs and services best suited to meet the unique needs of their communities.
All Aboriginal people, regardless of status or location, may access AHRDS programs and services. These include: labour market interventions; programs for youth, urban and Aboriginal persons living with disabilities; creation and maintenance of child care spaces (First Nations and Inuit Child Care), and capacity building for Agreement holders. Capacity building is a key requirement.
Currently, there are 80 Aboriginal Human Resources Development Agreements (AHRDAs) in place across Canada. Service Canada’s regional offices work closely with these Agreement holders to implement the AHRDS and its programs and services. At ICHR, AHRDA pursues training and skill development through financial support of ICHR staff of aboriginal descent.
For information on this program, visit the Government of Canada AHRDS Website.
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NICE: Nurses International College Experience
NICE is a new Aurora College-led initiative aimed at creating a standing forum for nursing students from throughout the circumpolar world. In conjunction with Finnmark University in northern Norway, NICE’s first project included a nursing student and faculty exchange for Spring and Fall 2010.
Four nursing students from the NWT traveled to Hammerfest, Norway to complete their Consolidated Practice Experience Course (CPE3) at the local hospital from May 11 to June 4, 2010. Along with gaining credit in CPE 3, the exchange facilitated:
- an exchange of information about professional nursing practice, education, and research in the circumpolar regions;
- enhanced the quality of care provided in the countries of the participants by learning about cultural diversity;
- fostered an awareness of each other’s culture through nursing practice experience and local socio-cultural events in each country;
- and, broadened personal development, perspectives on nursing practice and critical appraisal of health care systems.
Discussions are being held with colleagues in Finland for a similar exchange in 2011. ICHR is assisting NICE by hosting its webpage, arranging travel fellowships through the CIHR Team in Circumpolar Health, and enabling international networking.
On the Aurora College side, six students — four designates and two alternates — had been selected from a competitive process looking at academic standing, clinical proficiency and written interest in circumpolar health. The four designates are Soura Rosen-Munroe, Candice Manuel, Gwen Hysert, and Leanne Niziol. The two alternates are Stephanie Gilbert Rose and Karianne Smith.
The exchange between the two countries required additional financing for students and faculty so a fund-raising meeting was initiated and ideas brainstormed.
For further information about the exchange please contact: Pertice Moffitt (pmoffitt@auroracollege.nt.ca) and Ruth Yttervik (Ruth.Yttervik@hifm.no).
About the Organizers
Dr. Pertice Moffitt is a nurse educator at Aurora College, Yellowknife Campus, Yellowknife, NT. In her position as Senior Nursing Instructor, she coordinates the BSN program. Her teaching portfolio includes community health, women’s health, nursing ethics and nursing research. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the Masters of Nursing, Nurse Practitioner Stream offered at Aurora College in affiliation with Dalhousie University. In this program she teaches philosophy and theory in nursing. Her research interest are with Circumpolar Health, Cultural Diversity and Women’s Health utilising qualitative methods of ethnography, photovoice and fourth generation evaluation. In May 2010, she will accompany and supervise third year nursing students in thier practice experience in Norway.About the Nursing Students
Gwen Hysert is an honour roll student in her 3rd year of Nursing at Aurora College in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Her interest in nursing started many years ago. Gwen has been actively involved in the community since she moved to Yellowknife in 1989. Over the past 18 years, Gwen has taught numerous courses, such as aquatics, leadership, aerobics, and first aid. She is known to many to be an outgoing and hardworking person who works well independently and in a team. Outside of school, Gwen enjoys participating in many outdoor activities with her husband and two boys. Gwen plans to remain in the north to work once she has completed her baccalaureate degree.
Candice Manuel is a third year nursing student at Aurora College in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. She lived in Newfoundland her entire life until 2003, when she moved to the North after being accepted into the Licensed Practical Nurse program. She graduated from the program in 2004 and began working on a Long-term care unit in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. She found the Licensed Practical Nurse program enlightening and since then, has had the opportunity to work with a diversity of people as well as experience different cultures and their traditions. Candice is passionate about nursing, fulfilling a life-long dream to help people by using the practical knowledge, skills and experience she learned through her education. She hopes to continue practicing in the north once she graduate.
Soura Munroe-Rosen is currently a 3rd year student in the Aurora College Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program. She grew up in the small community of Fort Smith where she worked and interacted with people from various cultures, diverse experiences, and backgrounds. She was a classroom assistant at young offender’s facility, an administrative assistant and radio operator at Wood Buffalo National Park, a student counsellor at the University of Calgary, an ambulance attendant, and for many summers a lifeguard for the Town of Fort Smith. Soura has been involved in work placements and study programs abroad, taking her to Israel, France, Egypt, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Leanne Niziol, is a 3rd year nursing student at the Aurora College Campus in Yellowknife, N.W.T. She is Aboriginal and was born and raised in the N.W.T. Leanne has aspired to be a nurse from a young age, her dedication and passion for nursing placed her on the academic honour roll. Leanne’s appreciation for culture and diversity, as well as her desired to broaden her professional nursing practice experience prompted her interest in the nursing international circumpolar exchange. Upon completion of her BscN, Leanne plans to live and practice in the N.W.T, then continue her education and obtain a Masters of Nursing in Advanced Practice.
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Work in Progress: Idea to Implementation Team
Founded in 2009, WIP I2T is a working group of medical practitioners and scholars whose goal is the mentorship and fostering of medical research in Canada’s North. With broad interests that span health care delivery, medical education, and cross cultural health care, this group endeavors to publish research reflecting the unique medical needs of Northerners. The WIP I2T group is based in Yellowknife and is part of the Institute of Circumpolar Health Research.Curent members include:
Dawn Priestley
Liaison Officer – Northwest Territories / Nunavut / Yukon
Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH)In October 2007, Dawn joined CADTH as its Liaison Officer for the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, providing a two-way link between CADTH and the respective health and community services systems. Dawn has worked for most of her career with Government of Yukon in various administrative and health policy positions, with nine years at the Yukon Hospital Corporation and as a Coordinator for the Territorial / Federal ADM Working Group on Health. Dawn has a diploma in Health Information Management.
David William Pontin, MD CCFP-EM
Emergency Room Physician
Stanton Territorial Hospital, Yellowknife, NTDavid is an Emergency Room Physician working at the Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife NWT since 2006. He did his medical training at UBC in Vancouver after completing a degree in Philosophy. Much of his career has been spent providing emergency services to largely underserviced populations in both urban and rural environments. His current research interests include the impact of culture on health care provision, Northern medical education and health care delivery to underserviced rural communities.
Alex Hoechsmann, MD
Clinical Director, Emergency
Stanton Territorial Hospital, Yellowknife, NTAlex is a musician pretending to be an ER physician (or is it the other way around) living in Yellowknife, NT. Alex grew up in BC and in his previous life worked for theater companies and music groups doing lighting design and technical support. For the past five years he has been working at the Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife. When he’s not at work he can be found playing his guitar or running around with his kids. His favorite foods are curries and mexican dishes. His heroes are John Lennon, Nelson Mandela and Bugs Bunny. He maintains a blog here.
Ewan Affleck, MD
Medical Director
Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority
Great Slave Community Health Clinic, Yellowknife, NTA graduate of the McGill School of Medicine, he has worked and lives in Northern Canada since 1992. Medivacs and community visits have taken him across most of the Canadian Arctic. He has served as clinical advisor to the Keewatin Regional Health Board and is currently the Medical Director of the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority and Clinical Director of the Northwest Territories e-Health Initiative. He maintains an active clinical practice, providing both hospital based and remote community services. He is passionate about designing sustainable and ecologically sound health services for remote northern communities.
Susan Chatwood, MScExecutive and Scientific Director
Institute for Circumpolar Health Research
Assistant Professor
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoIn addition to founding and leading ICHR, Susan has recently been appointed as assistant professor in the Division of Social and Behavioral Health Sciences at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health as well as president of the Canadian Society for Circumpolar Health. She has spent most of her career in remote and northern communities, working in the clinical setting, public health, and research. She was a founding member of the Arctic Health Research Network and has an interest in building sustainable health research capacity in northern regions. Current projects within ICHR include the applications of ethical guidelines in the NWT, knowledge synthesis and dissemination of evidence for northern populations, participatory projects with a focus on community wellness and the facilitation of a number of research projects and related activities in the Northwest Territories which are listed on this site.
Rajiv Rawat, MESCommunications and Technologies
Institute for Circumpolar Health ResearchRajiv has inhabited the intersection of research, communications, and technology for the better part of a dozen years. After graduating from Cornell University, he worked at the Harvard AIDS Institute as a research assistant, scientific publications editor, web coordinator, and internet specialist. In addition to supporting various programs at the institute, he managed the knowledge information system at the heart of the Enhancing Care Initiative, a five-year international project to support and sustain AIDS care teams in resource-scarce settings. He continued this technological focus through his master’s and doctoral programs, most recently with multimedia at the Faculty of Environmental Studies and Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability of York University before moving north to join ICHR.
