Steve Anthony: True Canadian Pharmacy

First Nations could soon form their own health regions, own their own pharmacies and control their own health information and research, say members of a new task force.
On Friday afternoon, members of the Medicine Chest Task Force and various First Nations chiefs from across the province gathered at the First Nations University of Canada’s Saskatoon campus to announce a series of partnerships with the university and others.
We’re building capacity !–more– in First Nations country. We have inherent rights and we’re taking responsibility for ourselves, said Red Pheasant First Nation Chief Sheldon Wuttunee.

br /br /canadapharmacynews.com

p He added that he would rather see a strong reaction to missteps in flu planning than a weak response, or none at all. First Nations governments must be front and centre and supported with the resources involved in the communication and in the planning, so that we aren’t challenged by enhanced fear, anxiety, the national chief said.
Aboriginal leaders called the move insensitive, while a Health Canada spokesman said the shipment was part !–more– of routine restocking — and not linked solely to a potential new wave of flu. Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, left, listens to Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo at a news conference Saturday as the flu communication plan is unveiled. When asked whether such a protocol would have made a difference in Health Canada’s decision to include body bags in a flu-supply shipment to northern Manitoba reserves last week, she said, I think it would have. She said the pandemic, declared last spring, has created some fear, so the role of the protocol will be to make sure people make decisions based on facts. 
Two federal cabinet ministers and the newly elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations signed a communications protocol Saturday, promising to work closely with aboriginal leaders to control the spread of the H1N1 flu virus. Under the protocol, First Nations governments will meet with federal government officials on a monthly basis to discuss planning in the struggle against H1N1. Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, appearing at an Ottawa news conference with Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl and AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo, said the protocol is aimed at improving communications between government officials and remote First Nations communities. Aglukkaq said it’s a challenge to get the right information out to First Nations communities. We need to overcome the jurisdictional challenges between provincial governments and territorial governments, Atleo said. Atleo said a virtual summit will be held before the end of October to give First Nations leaders online access to flu experts.

br /br /cbc.ca

p In contrast, Grand Chief Sydney Garrioch of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak said only two of 30 communities in his northern territory have a plan for dealing with the swine flu pandemic.
Shawn Atleo, the newly elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said it’s time to turn the immediate H1N1 crisis into a broader discussion of the desperate circumstances that many First Nations communities face. In these patients, the !–more– virus directly infects the lung, causing severe respiratory failure, WHO saidDr. The majority of infections were mild, along the lines of illnesses caused by normal flu. Research shows the H1N1 virus replaced normal in most southern countries during their flu season. The federal pandemic plans for remote and isolated northern communities, Turner said, have guidelines created [that] do not fit, and use a language that is full of false assumptions and hints of colonial bureaucracy. Elsewhere, the World Health Organization said Friday that swine flu infections have reached a peak in the Southern Hemisphere. But several native leaders described their frustrations from trying to deal with the pandemic when they lack running water, face overcrowded housing and insufficient funding. Aglukkaq told a parliamentary committee hearing in Ottawa that 90 per cent of 600 First Nations communities have a plan. The pandemic is now set to shift back north, where a second wave will put a strain on health care facilities, the UN health agency said.
Gail Turner, the director of health services for the Nunatsiavut government and chairperson of the national Inuit committee on health, said Inuit are vulnerable because of geography, weather and sickness from other diseases, since it’s not always possible to fly people who are severely ill from swine flu to larger hospitals. Doctors worldwide are reporting a very severe form of the disease in young and otherwise healthy people. Aglukkaq noted that aboriginal communities in Canada are younger on average than other communities, with a higher number of pregnant women and people with diabetes, which make them more vulnerable to severe disease from the H1N1 virus. Manitoba Grand Chief Ron Evans accused the Crown of ignoring its fiduciary responsibilities for health care. David Butler-Jones, Canada’s chief public health officer, said all families should have basic supplies on hand, such as Tylenol for flu symptoms, a thermometer to check for fever, soap and water and potentially hand sanitizer. But Manitoba Grand Chief Ron Evans said the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs was continually stonewalled by tight-fisted financial decisions that ignore Crown fiduciary responsibilities for health care. Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and a First Nations chief had widely divergent views Friday on the state of flu pandemic preparedness plans for aboriginal communities. Federal health officials responded that they have offered public health guidance to Indian and Northern Affairs, which is responsible for water on First Nations communities. The department makes a distinction between access to water and access to drinking water, since any water can be boiled for handwashing purposes, said Shelagh Jane Woods, director general of Health Canada’s First Nations and Inuit health branch. The H1N1 pandemic virus has rapidly established itself and is now the dominant influenza strain in most parts of the world, WHO said in a statement.
Flu levels have returned to normal in most southern countries, but remain elevated in South Africa and Bolivia, said WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl. Countries should plan for growing demand on hospital intensive care units from a second wave of the pandemic, WHO urged. Infections also seem to be starting earlier than normal in Japan, he said. The pandemic will persist in the coming months as the virus continues to move through susceptible populations. But a second wave of flu in northern countries such as Canada will put a strain on health-care facilities such as intensive care units, the UN health agency said. When Opposition MPs asked why the federal government is not contributing to pandemic kits for First Nations in Manitoba, Aglukkaq responded by asking whether purchasing soap should be federal responsibility, and that medical supplies are available from nursing stations.

br /br /cbc.ca

A senior Manitoba Health official said its stockpile of H1N1 antiviral drugs was made available to Health Canada for distribution among the province’s First Nation communities.
Terry Goertzen, an assistant deputy minister of health, said Ottawa did not request from Manitoba more than the 45 courses, or 450 doses, of Tamiflu it was given in mid-May to deal with an H1N1 outbreak on reserves.
When it comes to health care on First Nation communities, !–more– (Ottawa) takes the lead, Goertzen said, adding no special requests for additional antiviral drugs were made to deal with the outbreak in the Island Lake communities.
Chiefs from Garden Hill and St. Theresa Point are demanding to know why their communities received next to no antiviral drugs when the northwestern Ontario First Nation of Sandy Lake was given 1,800 doses to control an H1N1 outbreak there.

br /br /canadapharmacynews.com

p In the past, however, health watchers have expressed concerned that sufficient drug supplies will only be available in the later fall, calling into question which groups will get the existing vaccine. Worse still, the United Nations agency has said there will likely not be enough of the serum to go around. Canada is in the process of prioritizing high-risk groups to receive the vaccine, and we strongly believe that a number of our communities !–more– should be prioritized, he said. The World Health Organization now predicts that a vaccine for the virus will not be ready for general use before November instead of an earlier fall forecast. Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples need to be guaranteed access to drugs to treat the H1N1 virus in the face of a looming vaccine shortage, the Assembly of First Nations said Friday. Manitoba has faced particularly troublesome outbreaks of swine flu in remote aboriginal communities in the past couple months. With an apparent shortage of drugs to deal with the so-called swine flu, aboriginal men and women need to have access to the serum, according to the AFN’s health representative. Since the outbreak of the swine flu pandemic earlier this year, Canada has seen 10,156 swine flu cases nationally, with 45 deaths. Recently, Canada’s chief public health officer, David Butler-Jones, noted that this country is one of the few that actually can get enough H1N1 vaccine to meet the needs of its own population. Recent statistics from Manitoba peg the infection level among First Nations there at more than 20 times the rate among the overall population, 135 per 100,000 people versus 6. The infection rate among aboriginal Canadians is higher than in the general population, the organization said. We are seeing an alarming trend of a greater severity of disease among First Nations, especially in remote communities, largely because of pre-existing health conditions and poor living conditions, said Chief Angus Toulouse. 1 cases per 100,000 for the province, the AFN said.

br /br /cbc.ca

p We have to start doing something. The group said a disproportionate number of aboriginal people are being affected. 5 million to buy 1,500 medical kits for remote First Nations communities. CIBC donated $10,000 on Wednesday, he said. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said some communities had to wait almost a month before they got the sanitizers they needed. Of the province’s most severe cases, the majority of patients in intensive care have been !–more– aboriginal. So far, the province says it has provided First Nation communities with 850 litres of hand sanitizer, 45 treatment courses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, more than 2,600 respirator masks and 9,000 surgical masks. While Evans said H1N1 has affected 20 people in every 100,000 in Canada, he said that number jumps to 135 in 100,000 for Manitoba’s First Nations. First Nations are caught in the middle of a jurisdictional dispute between the province and the federal government over who bears responsibility for health care on reserves, Evans said. Six people who tested positive for the virus in the province have died. Manitoba’s First Nations communities say they’re turning to corporate donations to cope with an outbreak of swine flu because they can’t afford to wait for government help. Grand Chief Ron Evans of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs on Wednesday said his group wants to raise $1. Last month, Health Canada came under fire for delaying a shipment of hand sanitizers to remote northern First Nations because they contained alcohol. We can’t wait, he said. In its latest update, Health Canada said there have been a total of 831 cases in Manitoba. He said the communities can’t afford to get bogged down in bureaucracy when people are dying from the virus. Manitoba Health Minister Theresa Oswald has said the federal government takes the lead in pandemics like this, but the province has been playing an important supporting role by supplying doctors, nurses and other supplies.
Last month, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs declared a state of emergency over the infection caused by the H1N1 virus.

br /br /cbc.ca

In Ontario, there are 1,669 men, women and children waiting for an organ transplant, according to the provincial Health Ministry. The groups have created a brochure to encourage organ and tissue donations in NAN’s 49 First Nations communities in the province. “This will help strengthen the resilience of our people while improving the health and well-being of our communities,” added Beardy, who is spreading the drive. People from First Nations (more…)