She didn’t have a family doctor for 17 years. A new partnership has brought one to her community

For Melanie Kahmahkotayo, seeing a doctor used to mean finding a ride off her First Nation, taking time away from work and family, and waiting for hours to be seen.

Those barriers led to her going nearly two decades without a family doctor.

Now, a new partnership between the Battle River Treaty 6 Health Centre and the Saskatchewan Health Authority is bringing a physician to local health clinics in three First Nations communities — Little Pine, Poundmaker and Sweetgrass — making it easier for people to get care closer to home.

“I’m happy that my health is getting back to order, because it wasn’t in order when I wasn’t seeing a doctor,” said Kahmahkotayo, who is from Little Pine First Nation, about 53 kilometres northwest of North Battleford.

“I’m diabetic and I really need to take care of my health, and I’m looking better today.”

Instead of making the trip off reserve, she can now see a physician at a clinic in her own community. She saw her family doctor two weeks ago, to consult on the medications she’s taking.

Building trust

As an Indigenous physician who speaks and understands some Cree, Dr. Cora Mirasty says sharing cultural understanding with her patients can help build trust.

“I think for them that’s important,” she said. “I get their humour, I get the way they word things, I get their body actions.”

Mirasty is the new physician for the Battle River Treaty 6 Health Centre. She said she grew tired of Band-Aid solutions and seeing First Nations people wait long hours, just to be prescribed unnecessary opiates for pain.

“What I’ve been trying to do in this last year since I became a physician is trying to get more care that’s meaningful and that’s actually productive for First Nations.”

Mirasty said representation can also help patients feel more comfortable talking openly about their health. 

“It makes a really good patient-doctor relationship when they’re able to tell me and not feel judged, and they’re open and honest with me,” she said.

Patients describe health-care challenges

When Lucy Whitecalf’s family doctor retired, finding another physician was difficult. She said even getting into a walk-in could be a challenge. When she had health-care issues, she would be told at walk-ins to come in a couple of weeks later, she said.

“I’ll be dead in two weeks,” Whitecalf said, laughing. 

When she heard a doctor would be coming to Sweetgrass First Nation, she was excited. 

“My first question was, ‘can I list you as my family doctor?’”

For some Indigenous patients, getting access to a doctor is only one part of the challenge. Once they’re in the health-care system, they can face racism. 

Brooke Cameron of Poundmaker First Nation grew up around hospitals, escorting her grandfather to appointments. She said she saw first-hand the racism Indigenous people dealt with.

Cameron said there’s an assumption from health-care workers that Indigenous people are looking for opiates to feed addictions.

“We’re good people, and just like everyone else we get sick and we get hurt, and we deserve to be treated equally and not treated like we’re going there for our own selfish needs,” she said.

Despite those experiences, Cameron remains optimistic about the health-care system. She said having Mirasty providing care in her community is a chance for a different experience. When she recently went in with her mother, she felt Mirasty was really listening to get to the roots of her problem. 

“I felt very heard and seen,” Cameron said. “Having a doctor there, I’m not going to have to go through those barriers anymore.”