Lylee Williams presents the
Coming Full Circle Manual in her workshop

The above quotation expresses the determination of caregivers to help the Aboriginal frail elderly attain healthy living. One means of reaching this goal recently took place in Ottawa on June 13 and 14. On those dates, Community Health Representatives (CHRs) from across Canada gathered together to attend the national training program developed by the National Indian and Inuit Community Health Representatives Organization (NIICHRO) entitled “Coming Full Circle: Healthy Living and the Aboriginal Frail Elderly.”
Ten Aboriginal facilitators from across Canada offered two full days of instruction on how to use the Coming Full Circle manual and video, two vital tools that CHRs and caregivers can use to:

-endorse healthy living for frail elders,
-encourage family involvement,
-support changes to a healthier lifestyle, and
-involve and motivate frail elders in activities to keep them moving.

CHRs teach each other the safe movements for the aboriginal frail elderly

The manual is set up in four main sections each representing part of the Medicine Wheel: Mind/Social/Spiritual/Body. Each section
discusses research, background information, statistics, and issues that the frail elderly experience in their daily lives. Additionally, throughout each section are activities specific to CHRs, caregivers and frail elders that are designed to provide or maintain a balanced approach to life for frail elders.
Incorporated into the manual are safe exercises, or “movements,” that frail elders can do to improve their overall physical and psychological health. A bonus to the manual is the accompanying instructional video of interviews with Indian and Inuit elders from the Stó:lõ nation of British Columbia, Hobbema, Alberta, and the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, Quebec.
This training session was the culmination of two years of intensive work carried out by NIICHRO researcher/writer Heidi Kuran with the valuable input and guidance of a national Steering Committee composed of NIICHRO Board Members, CHRs, Aboriginal Elders, a representative from the Centre for Activity and Ageing of the University of Western Ontario and the Active Living Coalition for Older Adults of Toronto. Also deserving honorable mention in this worthy project are filmmaker Charmaine Carvalho, who directed the “Coming Full Circle” video, Margaret Horn, its Executive Producer, and Wendy Mayo, the NIICHRO staff person/wizard who coordinated the people and places for the filming locations.
When asked to comment about the training they experienced in Ottawa, the following excerpts of participants’ comments add a wonderful final chapter to all of the hard work that was put into the Coming Full Circle project:

What did you like about this training?
“Sharing with colleagues.”
“The exercises.”
“The stories, the laughter, the fun.”
“Down-to-earth approach.”
“Gaining knowledge.”
“The nutrition information.”
“Sharing with and learning from elders.”
“Opportunity to learn about connecting with the land -our spiritual connections.”
“Having a session in French for those French-speaking participants.”

What is one thing that you got from the training that you will use right away in your work?
“Confidence for working with the elderly.”
“I would like to organize a health fair specific to seniors.”
“Pain assessment questionnaire.”
“I will start a movement program with the elders right away.”
“I will organize a club for the elders.”

The effect of the whole activity was to fill each of us with comfort and hope as we thought about these elders who are such a vital and integral part of our community’s past, present and future.

Labrador Inuit learn safe movements for frail elderly

How useful do you find the Coming Full Circle training manual?
“I will be able to share this information with the other service providers in our community, especially those working with elders.”
“The training and lessons are easy to use and understand.”
“It is user friendly; I will be able to make my own presentations from the manual and overheads.”
“The role plays help make things realistic.”
“Good to have culturally appropriate resources.”

How useful do you find the Coming Full Circle video?
“I will make use of it immediately with a frail elder.”
“It will be good for elders to see…it is motivational and inspires confidence.”
“Good to see elders in action and hear their
messages.”
“It illustrated working with elderly who are in different situations. For example, one can still work on exercises with the person who has had a stroke.”
“It was a beautiful video and shows how to be gentle and caring in our work with the elders.”
“I will show the video at a band meeting to make band members think about the importance of our elders.”
“We can show this at our monthly luncheon with elders.”

How useful do you find the Coming Full Circle “Movement” (exercises) section?
“It showed the benefits that the elderly get in each area of the body that they exercise.”
“Simple, not vigorous and easy to use with elders.”
“Gentle exercises with low risk for injury.”
“Exercises will help in all areas: eating, sleeping…everything.”
“Easy to apply in the home and community.”
“I like it that I can explain why the specific
exercise is good for them.”

What other comments would you like to make about this training session?
“Fun workshop.”
“Enjoyed role plays.”
“An organized and relaxed environment.”
“Enjoyed learning from our elders.”
“Enjoyed opportunity to share with other CHRs.”
“Good to see so many health care workers
together sharing ideas and socializing.”

How this training will be used with the Aboriginal frail elderly remains to be seen. Judging from the responses quoted above, a lot of enthusiasm and hope was generated at the training session to take these materials back to CHRs and caregivers’ communities and immediately begin using these with band members, colleagues, families, other community members, and the frail elderly themselves. Such optimism will surely make an impact towards a healthier future for our precious frail elderly.

Enlightening Report from one of the training workshops:
‘What Contributes to Good Health?’

As conveyed by Sylvia Nagy,
B.Ed and Coming Full Circle trainer

The activity in my session that stands out the most for me was when I asked each participant to think of an elder in their community who is quite old and in good health. I asked them to name three things that they felt contributed to the good health of that elder. The reports from each CHR were enlightening. It was so delightful to hear each CHR speak with affection for the elder. The same factors were mentioned again and again. These were:

1. Physical activity – with walking as the most common form of physical activity. Some of the elders walked many miles per day.
2. Spiritual life – the elders expressed
faith in the Creator through regular church attendance or were regular participants in traditional ceremonies.
3. Socially active – the elders reached out to others in their community and did not wait for others to do things for them. Many of the women still cooked for others and practiced hospitality

Coming Full Circle Trainers get recognition at the banquet