Health services feed visitors
By Sharon Weatherall
CHIMNISSING – Breakfast was served to First Nation community members who attended two early-morning open houses at the Beausoleil First Nation Health Centre.
Staff at the community Dental Clinic and Keewaytinook Okimakanak eHealth Telemedicine (KOTM) program demonstrated the services they provide to make life easier for residents of a remote community.
Dental Hygienist Patricia Armstrong attends the clinic weekly, providing periodontal assessments, cleaning, fluoride treatments, polishing and other convenient services so patients do not have to leave Christian island.
“My experience here is seeing people that haven’t had their teeth done in five to ten year,” said Armstrong. “People who are status have dental benefits so there is no cost to have healthy teeth.
There is a huge link now between oral and overall health so they need to be aware.”
Members of the Sylvester family — Michael, Josie and son Tyler — were on hand to get information about dental services.
“It’s a good idea to have a dentist on the island,” said Michael. “It makes life much more convenient. I like a dentist that does not refer you to another and does all the work in the same office.”
Dr. Sean Gorendar has been practising dentistry once a month for three years on Chimnissing. He urges Island residents not to be embarrassed or afraid. Their clinic offers a unique environment and atmosphere for new and returning patients.
“We try to accommodate as many as we can through appointments and find we can get a lot more accomplished per day at the clinic with whole families coming in at once,” he said.
Rebecca Monague has been coordinator of the Telemedicine program for about a year.
Beausoleil First Nation is one of many remote communities with access to a full range of health professionals via secure and inter-operable link with the Ontario Telemedicine Network. The Island service offers specialized First Nations programming.
“It is a great program I am excited to be a part of it,” said Monague. “All people have to do to get an appointment is come in and talk to me about their needs. Even for health centre staff it works out great for them to use the video conferencing. It can be used for workshops, appointments, educational sessions, courses and more.
“It’s really neat; there’s an Elders Program where they come together through video conferencing and currently I am trying to get kids in from the school to show them how it links with people on other First Nation communities. We want people to see how much Telemedicine offers and how easy it is for them to use.”
Monague says she is now trying to get blue-tooth based Retinal Screening to determine a person’s health through Telemedicine. In January she will be hosting an eight-week “Fundamentals of Hospice Palliative Care Course” to introduce the possibility of getting hospice on the island so local elders who need service do not have to be sent to the mainland.