St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation is announcing a $550,000 donation over three years fromBMO to fund the creation of two new positions designed to improve access to culturally safe care for Indigenous individuals at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. This gift will further enhance the Hospital’s commitment to creating a five-person Indigenous care team in 2025.
Over 5,000 St. Joe’s leaders, staff and volunteers will benefit from the creation and roll-out of organizational Indigenous cultural safety training designed to strengthen knowledge and awareness among healthcare workers, learners and volunteers to support them in providing culturally safe care. Through its Prioritizing Indigenous Wellness Pathway, it’s estimated that St. Joe’s will be able to help 100 Indigenous clients per year to receive expedited access to mental health and substance use care. This partnership will ultimately advance the depth and breadth of culturally appropriate services accessible to Indigenous communities in the region.
“We’re grateful for this new $550,000 donation from BMO that will enable our hospital to invest in key roles focused on improving access to care for Indigenous patients and reinforcing our commitment to taking action on Truth and Reconciliation,” says Sera Filice, President and CEO, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation. “The operational funding hospitals receive is essential to ongoing care provision, but it isn’t always enough to fund programs that are critical to reducing the disparities in health outcomes Indigenous people face. This is where philanthropy can play a key role.”
“We know that experiences of anti-Indigenous racism can lead to increased risk of physical and mental health difficulties. Anti-Indigenous racism is also a barrier to accessing care,” explains Lisa Jeffs, Senior EDI Consultant at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. “To compound that, Western models of healthcare provision have not historically made space for cultural healing practices that are important to many of our Indigenous patients. But with this new gift from BMO, the roles it’s enabling us to hire, and with the direction of Indigenous community members in Hamilton, we’re working to change that.”
“BMO is committed to building an inclusive society by supporting greater accessibility to quality healthcare for Indigenous people,” said Clio Straram, Head, Indigenous Banking Unit, BMO. “BMO’s Zero Barriers to Inclusion strategy focuses on providing access to opportunities and enabling growth for the communities we serve and is part of our Purpose, to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life. This donation will help enable Indigenous Peoples to receive effective, culturally sensitive treatment through understanding and connection during their time at St. Joe’s.”
This gift is the latest in a series of investments by BMO to reduce disparity in health outcomes among Indigenous populations. Since 2017, BMO has made commitments exceeding $10 million towards Indigenous Health with a priority to continuously expand support, which has grown steadily year after year.
About the roles:Full-time Indigenous Clinician Role A full-time clinical role dedicated to helping Indigenous individuals receive effective mental health care as quickly as possible. The role will help formalize the Prioritizing Indigenous Wellness Pathway and improve access to culturally safe, trauma-informed mental health care for Indigenous peoples. This role builds on a pandemic pilot program led by Dr. Caitlin Davey, a Clinical Psychologist who identifies as a mixed background Indigenous (Haudenosaunee – Cayuga Nation, Polish and Scottish) woman, incollaboration with the Hamilton Regional Indian Centre and the De dwa da dehs nye>s Aboriginal Health Centre to fast-track mental health referrals forthose Indigenous to Turtle Island. The pilot program saw 50 referrals within months of its launch. St. Joe’s estimates that once this clinician is hired, the program will help 100 clients annually.
Part-time Indigenous Advisor RoleSt Joe’s will recruit and hire a part-time Indigenous Advisor to help develop and implement an Indigenous Cultural Safety Training plan, review hospital policies and procedures from an anti-Indigenous racism lens, and work with colleagues to expand the hospital’s relationships with local Indigenous leaders and communities with the goal of improved access to care, improved health outcomes, and greater health equity.
Representatives from BMO were on site at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton today to announce the gift at an event marking the steps the Hospital is taking along its journey towards greater Truth and Reconciliation, and its commitment to continuous reflection, consultation and improvement. Job postings for the two new roles will be posted in November 2024 and can be found on www.joinstjoes.ca/. The Hospital’s stated intention is to hire individuals who self-identify as Indigenous.
BMO Gives. Good grows here. Helping communities thrive by supporting the organizations that sustain them and encouraging employee giving and volunteerism is at the heart of BMO’s Purpose, toBoldly Grow the Goodin business and life. In 2023, our social impact included more than$84 milliondonated to hundreds of charities and non-profit organizations acrossNorth Americato help drive progress by enabling individuals to thrive and communities to prosper. Our colleagues spent almost 62,000 hours volunteering in the community and contributed more than$31.2 millionof donations through our annual employee giving program. For more information, please visitBMO.com.
About St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and FoundationSt. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton is an acute care, academic health sciences centre with three main campuses, a formalized research institute that ranks among the top 40 research hospitals in the country, and several community-based programs and services. Affiliated with McMaster University and Mohawk College, St. Joe’s is the regional lead for respiratory health, kidney and urinary care and transplantation, eye medicine and surgery, and mental health and addictions care. Our Charlton Campus is home to the busiest emergency room and the only psychiatric emergency service in the city. For more information, visit: www.stjoes.ca. Since 1970, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation has worked with our generous community of donors, grateful patients and friends to secure donations of all sizes and types that help our Hospital acquire new equipment, fund patient care programs, build and renovate new facilities, and conduct vital research. To learn more, visit: www.stjoesfoundation.ca
SOURCE St. Joseph”s Healthcare Hamilton Foundation
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