The National Indian and Inuit Community Health Representatives
Organization (NIICHRO) closes yet another annual meeting/national training session. This year’s conference took place from June 12 to 14, 2003 in Ottawa and had as its theme “Coming Full Circle: Healthy Living and the Aboriginal Frail Elderly.” Over 200 Community Health Representatives from across Canada were trained in workshop settings to become familiar with the Coming Full Circle Facilitator’s Manual and Motivational Video to give them the skills, knowledge and confidence to work with a special population we hold dear to our hearts – the frail elderly. These training tools generated a wave of excitement and enthusiasm among many CHRs who vowed that once they returned home, they would immediately begin sensitizing their communities about
issues facing the frail elderly, such as injuries from falls, elder abuse,
depression, living with pain, and nutritional deficiencies. The training gave participants a multitude of ideas on how to work with the elderly within a framework consisting of four areas: mind, body, social and spiritual self. According to Arlene Vrtar-Huot, plenary speaker and trainer, “This has given the CHRs a new direction in working with the elderly. Many worked with them and were struggling to come up with ‘appropriate’ ideas for programming. This training has given them the tools. That is what I heard over and over again.”

The pleasing presence of the elders at the conference

This issue of In Touch Magazine provides its readers with highlights of the Coming Full Circle training and other health-related topics: the address given by keynote speaker Richard Jock of the National Aboriginal Health Organization; the moving presentation on residential schools delivered by Arlene Vrtar-Huot; insight on pain management as presented by Barbara Linkewich of the Northwestern Ontario Palliative Care Committee; exercise and its role in the prevention of falls in the elderly; the therapeutic benefits of laughter; and finally, words of practical wisdom that were offered by members of an Elders Panel during the plenary.
A profile is given of the CHR Award Winner 2003 and updates are given on Wage Parity, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada-NIICHRO project entitled ‘Aboriginal Contraception Awareness Project’, the Tobacco Needs Assessment demonstration project, the Standards of Practice roundtable discussions that took place in mid-July 2003 and preliminary information on the Aboriginal Injury Prevention conference scheduled to take place in Winnipeg, Manitoba in June 2004.
Last but not least is an important day to mark on the calendar: National CHR Day—a day for all CHRs to organize activities to promote an understanding of the CHR program and role they play in the community. Falling on the third Thursday of September annually, this year the event occurred on September 18. Readers will find out what kinds of activities were planned by CHRs in the Northwest Territories, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Described enthusiastically by the CHRs who organized these events, it will no doubt help launch similar activities in other Aboriginal communities across the nation.