Aaniish Naa Gegii app receives positive response from Indigenous communities and organizations
By Rick Garrick
WIIKWEMKOONG UNCEDED TERRITORY — The Naandwechige-Gamig Wikwemikong Health Centre and Evaluating Children’s Health Outcome Research Centre at Laurentian University recently launched the Aaniish Naa Gegii: the Children’s Health and Well-being Measure (ACHWM) app for Indigenous children.
“I am passionate about making sure the children of our community and now communities across Canada have access to services to support their needs and fill in the gaps,” says Mary Jo Wabano, health services director at Naandwechige-Gamig Wikwemikong Health Centre. “This will give us a better sense of what we can do as a community to collectively support our children towards maintaining balance in life, maintaining wellness. This is my driving force: it’s all for the children.”
The tablet-based app was created with the assistance of Indigenous children for Indigenous children from eight to 18-years-old to provide Indigenous communities or organizations with an overview of the health and well-being status of children and youth in their communities. It is available here.
“We have a 62-item questionnaire geared specifically to Indigenous children and youth [and] we’ve adapted it for Inuit and Métis,” Wabano says. “If you’re looking for something to support your First Nation community, you’re able to go in and take a look at what we offer.”
Wabano says the communities or organizations that use the app own the data results.
“They would be able to use that information whenever they are writing proposals because now they have a baseline of where their children are at in terms of overall wellness,” Wabano says. “There is an opportunity at the end of the questionnaire where there are open-ended questions — one of the questions we would use is: ‘If you had an opportunity to participate in an activity, what would that be?’”
Wabano says the Naandwechige-Gamig Wikwemikong Health Centre has used the data results to plan programming for children and youth.
“We’ve actually used that type of information to support downhill skiing, that we’ve done a few times for our kids,” Wabano says.
Wabano says the communities that signed on to use the questionnaire have been implementing it at least once per year.
“Some communities have used it as part of their back-to-school wellness checks,” Wabano says. “So it might be something they roll out in late July-early August before the kids go back to school.”
Wabano says there has been a positive response from the communities that are using the app.
“The communities love the fact that there is a feature embedded within the app itself where if a child is requiring additional support there is a flag system,” Wabano says. “If there are any questions that are of concern of the child’s overall well-being, we call those flag questions, the worker then is flagged and is able to basically offer that additional support to that child.”
The app’s functions include health assessment, program evaluation and mental health screening.
“Our goal is to make sure this supports wellness for all Indigenous children and youth,” says Nancy L. Young, director of the School of Rural and Northern Health and research chair. “It started off being about planning and evaluating in the community and along the way, we discovered that we need to help each child in the process. There are no financial barriers for communities that want to use this, whether it’s for five children or 500.”
Robert Haché, president and vice-chancellor of Laurentian University, says it is “extremely rewarding” to see the continued partnership with Naandwechige-gamig Wikwemikong Health Centre and many participating Indigenous communities.
“The relationships built through this important work truly speak to the aspirations established in Laurentian University’s 2018-2023 Strategic Plan and our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation,” Haché says.