Exploring Indigenous community access to airway health prevention and care: Towards the development of community-driven interventions

Indigenous peoples across Canada continue to be disproportionately impacted by respiratory diseases (RD) (i.e. asthma, COPD, long COVID); however, there is limited evidence describing their Indigenous peoples respiratory healthcare needs and ways in which respiratory healthcare services can be improved. Given this knowledge gap, this project seeks to engage Indigenous peoples with RD to understand their experiences living with RD; to explore Indigenous peoples’ healthcare experiences; and to identify promising practices that can improve the treatment experiences and outcomes among Indigenous peoples with RD. In order to accomplish this, we plan to hold a minimum of five talking circles with Indigenous peoples with RD across urban and rural areas of the Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) region. A graphic facilitator will guide a journey mapping exercise with community members in order to understand community members’ experiences when attempting to access services, while also elucidating promising practices in the treatment of RD. In addition to the benefits that this project may have for the health of Indigenous peoples in the VCH region, findings also have implications for Indigenous peoples living in other parts of British Columbia.

Team members: Christopher Carlsten (UBC and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute); Andreas Pilarinos (Vancouver Coastal Health and UBC); Shannon Field (Vancouver Coastal Health and UBC); Karen Rideout (Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute); Pat Camp (UBC); Phalgun Joshi (Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute); Shiloh Joe (Sechelt First Nation); Coreen Paul (Musqueam First Nation); Michael Dumont (Lu’ma Medical Centre); Krisztina Vasarhelyi (Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and Simon Fraser University); Roberta Price (Snuneymuxw and Cowichan First Nations); Leslie Bonshor (Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and Simon Fraser University;)