Ten First Nations-led and focused primary care centres are set to open across B.C. this fall.
They will add to two centres opened since the province committed to the initiative in 2018, and will be followed by three more centres that are still in the works. When all 15 are complete, there will be three clinics in each of B.C.'s five regional health authorities.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said Tuesday (Sept. 3) that the centres are part of the province's work to address Indigenous-specific racism in health care. An independent report released in 2020 found Indigenous people face widespread racism, discrimination and stereotyping when accessing care in B.C.
The 15 care centres will combine primary health care, meaning ongoing access to a doctor or nurse, with social services and Indigenous health supports. The province says each clinic will be tailored to the needs of the community it is in and operated in partnership with the local First Nations and the First Nations Health Authority.
Recruitment for clinical and traditional roles at the 10 new clinics is ongoing, according to the province.
The two centres already in operation include the Lu'ma Medical Centre in Vancouver and the All Nations Healing House in Williams Lake.
The ten new centres will include:
- the Kwakwaka’waka First Nations, Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations and Coast Salish First Nations primary care centres in the Vancouver Island region
- the Gitxsan-Wet’suwet’en Primary Health Care Centre on Gitxsan Territory, Dadzi Wellness Centre on the Dak’elh First Nations Territory and the MîÝoMâCihêwi Kamik Northern Nations Wellness Centre on Treaty 8 Territory in the Northern region
- the northern St'át'imc Primary Care Center and the Nlaka’pamux Nation First Nations Primary Care Centre in the Interior region
- the Nuxálk Primary Care Centre and es zúmin’ Primary Care Centre in the Vancouver Coastal region
The Éyameth First Nations Primary Care Centre on Sts’ailes territory is set to be complete by spring 2025, while two mobile centres in the Fraser Health region are still being worked on.
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