Health Director's Report
I am very honoured to present the 2022/2023 Health Directors report for the first time as your new and very humbled Health Director.
When considering applying for this role, my driving force is my passion in working alongside the community, creating spaces and opportunities for us all to celebrate our culture and language in everything we do, and ensuring the health services provided to community members are community-driven and Nation-based. Having previously worked at XaaydaGa Dlaang Society as the Office and Program Manager and the Accreditation lead, I understand the important leadership role that is expected of the Health Director by the community, including the provision of leadership and direction to plan, organize, implement, maintain, and evaluate the health services of the organization in a way that reflects the aspirations and meets the needs of the community. I also expect to bear the responsibility for human and financial resources, ensuring a high standard of care and service, demonstrating considerable judgment on behalf of the organization when listening to the community, implementing the goals of the Strategic Plan and health management plan, and creating, developing and advocating for increased services that address community healthcare gaps, and identifying initiatives that contribute to better health and wellness outcomes.
In my career I have been fortunate to be surrounded by incredible people who have helped me in my learning journey. This learning journey has included a background in Aboriginal business management, finance, project management, grant writing and leadership. In June 2022, I graduated from the Centre for Indigenous Health Leadership, obtaining Health D irector C ertification. T his p rogram e mpowers F irst Nations Health Directors to confidently serve as health and wellness leads in their communities and Nations. I am committed to advocating and advancing the health and wellness for Skidegate, to continually grow and improve our community outcomes in this space. I value and will draw upon collaboration, innovation, and cultural sensitivity in my work. I am always eager to learn and improve my capabilities and strive to build strong partnerships with the community and other stakeholders to enhance the health services available. I welcome feedback and engagement provided by the community on what they want to see regarding their health services. It is an absolute honour to be in this role and I personally commit to doing the best I can for the community and Society.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank and acknowledge Lauren Brown, the former Health Director, for working with me to ensure a smooth transition in the Health Director role. Lauren occupied the Health Director role since the inception of the Society and left big shoes to fill and an impressive legacy among staff, the Board of Directors and the community. Thankfully, Lauren supported me into the new role and provided an extensive handover to ensure that, together, we mitigated the impact from a change in Health Director to the Society, its staff, and its services. Lauren, I offer my sincere gratitude for your support and only hope I can do justice to your legacy work.
I hope that as you read through this report, you will be inspired by the ongoing programs and activities, as well as the growth. We extend our gratitude to the Skidegate community, our members, Staff, and Board for their contributions to the progress and achievements outlined in this report.
Haawa Debbie Crosby – Health Director
I would also like to make a special mention to the Governing Board who with their support I have been able to lead my team and community to provide effective and efficient community services while remaining fiscally efficient and effective in working towards realizing our community vision of a connected, healthy and self-determining Skidegate community.
I also give thanks and gratitude to the Skidegate Health Centre team. It is thanks to your hard work, dedication, consistency and tendency to go the extra mile, that the community continues to be served and supported in achieving their health and wellness goals. This has been especially crucial to ensuring the community was not impacted by the transition to a new Health Director. It is an honour to lead you, provide guidance when needed and hopefully create spaces to enjoy our work environment.
Service & Program Highlights
There have been lots of personal acknowledgements in this report and as you will see reading through the Annual Report, there have also been some wonderful and innovative service and program achievements. It is an honour to share some of these key service and program highlights (but certainly not limited to these):
Supporting Mental Wellness Through Culture
Through multiple activities ranging from cultural workshops to healing circles we were able to support community members with improving their mental wellness. It is important to support our mental wellness as part of contributing to our overall health and wellbeing . This was also identified as an area within the evaluation surveys that required expanding or improving. It is comforting to see a range of activities on offer to help our community, and even more comforting and encouraging to see community members accessing and enjoying these activities. Our community and evidenced-based research continue to tell us that culture is a key intervention to Mental Wellness, and we will continue to focus and promote cultural activities wherever possible.
Weekly Haida Gwaii Doctor Visits to the Skidegate Community
This fiscal year, we are very excited to see Haida Gwaii Daajing Giids Doctors from practice A, B, C, and D taking appointments at the Skidegate Health Centre every Thursday. Given there is limited transportation, we are very pleased to be offering this service to make health care more accessible for our community members. I look forward to seeing what other services and support we can bring to the community in the next year. And a big Haawa and welcome to our Doctors!