An Indigenous health leader in Niagara is hoping that a deep-seated fear that many Indigenous people feel in hospital is something that is being chipped away.
Charity Beland, who is a member of Six Nations of the Grand River, Mohawk, Turtle Clan, is the manager of Indigenous Health Services and Reconciliation at Niagara Health, which operates three hospitals and two urgent care centres. There, she leads a team who make it their mission to create hospital settings where Indigenous people feel safe and valued.
The ongoing efforts by Niagara Health to improve Indigenous patients' experience has earned the acknowledgment of a major Indigenous umbrella group in Ontario, with the caveat that there is still a long road ahead to regain trust.
It was the death of Heather Winterstein in 2021 at Niagara Health's hospital in St. Catharines — now known as the Marotta Family Hospital — that led the hospital system to embark on a process of self-examination on the experience of Indigenous patients.
At the coroner's inquest into her death earlier this year, testimony revealed that Winterstein, 24, sought care for extreme pain on two consecutive days but ended up collapsing after languishing for hours in the emergency department waiting room.