History

Innovating Indigenous Primary Care (IIPC) Gathering in Alberta

Winter 2016

In the Winter of 2016, the Innovating Indigenous Primary Care (IIPC) gathering in Alberta convened a cross-sector group of researchers and clinicians led by the Department of Family Medicine in the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine. Indigenous leaders, provincial health systems, primary health care (PHC) practitioners, and scholars alike saw the need to come together and explore how to move an Indigenous PHC focused agenda forward in the province. Discussions facilitated in the gathering focused on assessing innovations given Alberta’s funding, infrastructure, and political climate; opportunities and challenges to improve PHC in Alberta; and actions and recommendations to engage decision-makers in order to drive an agenda forward. Findings from the IIPC in Alberta Gathering determined a need for a coherent model for community engagement and implementing a sustainable approach to innovate new models of care while increasing community engagement to shape and move health care services forward. 

Round-Table Meetings in Edmonton and Calgary

Spring 2019

Funds obtained from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research (NEIHR) Program Development Grant provided support for proposal preparation activities, community personnel support, and travel support to attend gatherings of Indigenous communities, researchers, knowledge users, stakeholders, and/or partners. As part of the larger goal to establish the network, two full-day round-table meetings were convened in the Spring of 2019 in Edmonton and Calgary

The purpose of these meetings were to determine priority areas of interest and capacity within the community to develop a full NEIHR Network Grant application to CIHR. The intention behind this was to ensure long-term sustainability of the Network, particularly given the diversity of Indigenous community partners, health systems stakeholders, and realities to address. Stakeholders were recruited through the research team’s existing networks and in partnership with Alberta Health Services’ Population, Public and Indigenous Health Strategic Clinical Network (PPIH SCN). Attendees represented Indigenous leadership, service providers, and community members with professional commitments to population health equity and PHC transformation in the province.

The facilitation approach was inclusive of diverse stakeholder voices, promoted transparency and safety in idea sharing, and diminished hierarchies among participants while facilitating the sharing and ranking of concerns among all. Round-table participants were invited to explore and discuss opportunities for Indigenous-focused PHC innovation and PHC research based in themes arising from TRC health legacy Calls to Action (i.e., Calls #18-24). We began by building on the investigator team’s prior provincial PHC conversations, and using an Indigenous-centred collaborative consensus building approach previously developed by team members for addressing TRC Calls to Action for system transformation within one medical school. Stakeholders generated and prioritized key directions for both PHC and a proposed PHC research network. Refer to the Roundtable Agenda and Facilitation Guide attachments for more details. Facilitation questions referenced the TRC Calls to Action, and posed of participants the following: (1) Considering existing gaps and needs, what PHC resources are critical to advocate for in your location?; (2) How can PHC be better equipped to address the upstream social causes of poor health?; and (3) If healing involves addressing impacts from multigenerational adverse life experiences, what is needed for PHC to play a key role in this healing?

Key themes emerged from the round-table dialogues. These frame our ongoing dialogue with stakeholders and among the internal investigator team for defining Network directions. The themes also guide translation into core concepts around which to mobilize principles framing our collaboration and actions for moving forward together. The themes derived from round-table dialogues are: Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Equity, Education, Evaluation and Engagement.

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research (CIHR NEIHR) Network Grant

Winter 2019

Based on analysis conducted on the data from the round-table meetings, directions for the IPHCPR Network were finalized to formalize a vision for an emerging network grant from federal funders. The IPHCPR Network successfully received the CIHR NEIHR Network Grant of $3.5 million over five years to develop an Alberta-based research network that will support researchers, health system leaders, health service providers, and Indigenous communities to share knowledge and create dialogue aimed at improving health outcomes for Indigenous people.