On November 17, 2001, The National Indian & Inuit Community Health Representatives Organization (NIICHRO) located in Kahnawake, Quebec, was honored for its efforts to improve the health of Canada's Indian and Inuit elders. It is one of 13 community-based organizations from throughout the U.S. and Canada to receive a 2001 SHARE Award from GlaxoSmithKline and the University of Pennsylvania Institute on Aging. The award is granted for project work that will better the health of seniors of diverse cultural, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. NIICHRO received a two-year, $200,000US SHARE Innovation Award for their proposal to develop culturally specific training materials for Aboriginal frail elders.

Using the SHARE Award, NIICHRO will develop a training package for CHRs called "Coming Full Circle". The objective of the Coming Full Circle training is to promote a more active and healthy lifestyle with the frail and disabled senior population in Aboriginal communities. The elder Aboriginal target group includes those that are frail, disabled, with chronic conditions, confined to wheelchairs or bedridden. The goals of the project are to deal with the issues on mobility and nutrition. The project methodology is as follows:

Conducting a review of programs, literature and resources on the frail and disabled older adults in Aboriginal communities. Preliminary research, discussions with other relevant agencies and our experience have indicated that there is little documentation to draw upon and so have determined that a needs assessment and data gathering from representative communities would be necessary.

Utilizing this data through the literature review, community consultation/needs assessment and guidance from a National Steering Committee composed of relevant agencies and two Aboriginal elders, training materials and a training program would be developed.

Producing a training manual, one 24-minute instructional/motivational video for those that have some infirmity to contend with and resource materials. All materials will be produced in both English and French. Preliminary data and our experience have indicated that the most critical issue with the older frail Aboriginal persons is "motivation". The video would include interviews with the older frail or disabled Aboriginal persons, woven together to speak on the barriers and how they were overcome.

Producing a 44-page English and French In Touch Magazine on the Coming Full Circle project. This document will be mailed out to the 1000 Community Health Representatives and 400 other health professionals. The magazine will also be uploaded to NIICHRO's website and linked to appropriate sites.

Conducting a 3.5-day Train the Trainers Session of 12 CHRs representative of all regions (both French and English) from across Canada to utilize the training manual and materials developed.

Providing a 3-day National Training Session (in English and French) to 275 CHRs from across Canada at the annual general meeting to be held in June 2003. Once again, the training materials developed by NIICHRO will be utilized.