Mar 15, 2010- 9:07 AM
In the centre of the room are a large, industrial vent and a fire pit. Office chairs are placed in a circle around the pit.
The hospital’s Aboriginal Medicine Lodge was unveiled during a press conference at the hospital March 11.
It is a place where aboriginal people can receive traditional treatment from aboriginal healers, participate in ceremonies or just quietly contemplate life.
Deborah Fildes, aboriginal representative on the hospital’s board of directors, said aboriginal peoples’ voices were “heard with great clarity” in the planning of the new one-site hospital.
She said the lodge is designed to be respectful of the traditions and spiritual requirements of the aboriginal patients population.
Deborah Robertson, cultural facilitator with the Wabnode Institute at Cambrian College, spoke at the press conference about the significance of the healing lodge’s design.
“This circle, sometimes called the great hoop of life, has no beginning and no end,” she said.
“It is continuous and inclusive of all that is above, all that is below, all that is within us, and all that is outside of us. No one is in front, no one is behind. All are standing together, standing as one.
“The four colours represent all that is to the east, south, west and north. The yellow, red, black and red also represent all the people on Mother Earth — every age, class, ethnic group, language, spiritual belief system and gender.”
In the centre of the circle is the “sacred fire, the creative force of life,” she said. In “times of heaviness,” people can speak to the fire, and give an offering of tobacco.
Sage, cedar or sweet grass are considered by aboriginal people to be sacred medicines. The materials are lit on fire during smudging ceremonies to purify the mind, body and spirit, Robertson said.
... patients have the right to receive culturally sensitive care.
Dr. Denis Roy,
CEO, Sudbury Regional Hospital
“Posted throughout the institution and on our website, you will find patient rights and responsibilities,” he said.
“The first two rights are as follows: patients have a right to be treated in a kind and respectful way, and patients have the right to receive culturally sensitive care.
“Today, along with the aboriginal community with whom we share this land and this institution, we are pleased to demonstrate respect for your traditions and your culture with the opening of the medicine lodge.”
Dr. Tim Zmijowskyj, a family physician who works at the Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre (a primary care facility in Sudbury which treats aboriginal patients) and is also the vice-president of the hospital’s medical staff, said medical professionals could learn a lot from the aboriginal approach to health care.
Leland Bell (left) presented Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre executive director Angela Recollet (centre) and Sudbury Regional Hospital CEO Dr. Denis Roy right) with a painting he created for the hospital’s Aboriginal Medicine Lodge March 11.
The hospital commissioned Wikwemikong artist Leland Bell to create a painting to be hung in the healing lodge. The hospital, in turn, presented Bell with a ceremonial blanket, a traditional gift.
The brightly-coloured painting, entitled Comfort Place, shows four people comforting another person. “When you’re going through the process of healing, you need that support,” he said.
