Clients at Ottawa’s Larga Baffin medical boarding facility have access to a new in-house social work and wellness program.
Nunavut Health Minister John Main announced the change earlier this month in the legislature.
“We understand that [medical] travellers can be extremely stressed, facing exceedingly difficult moments in life, medically or personally, and that it is important to offer wraparound support during these tough times,” he said.
Larga Baffin houses Inuit travelling from Nunavut to Ottawa to access specialized medical care not available in their home communities.
Clients and their family members can spend anywhere from a few days to a few months at the facility depending on the medical treatment they require.
The social worker, employed through the Ottawa Health Services Network Inc., is stationed at the boarding home and delivers services such as mental health and substance use support, supportive counselling, social system navigation, crisis management and more, the minister explained.
Health Department spokesperson Chris Nolan told Nunatsiaq News that the program came about after conversations with staff and clients showed a need for this kind of specialized service.
“Clients and escorts are having to travel out of their home community and sometimes out of the territory to access care, so how can we make that as supportive and streamlined as possible?” he said.
Sometimes clients who are accessing medical care may also be struggling with separate addiction issues or be dealing with social issues or family stresses on top of their medical treatment, Nolan explained. Escorts travelling and staying with those clients may also need support.
“We kind of hatched the idea of what that might look like and we started these conversations about two years ago to how we could potentially add increased wraparound supports for medical travellers,” Nolan said.
While Larga Baffin does work with social workers already through the Ottawa Health Services Network, the idea for a dedicated, full-time social worker, specifically one who had prior experience working with Indigenous communities, was put in motion.
“We wanted to make sure that she integrated, being immersed in the culture and clients that are accessing care and resources at the boarding home,” he said of the social worker hired to fill the role.
The program started in January and there are plans to implement a similar model at other medical boarding facilities for Nunavummiut in Iqaluit and Winnipeg as this inaugural Larga Baffin program continues to grow and expand, Nolan said.
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