WIKWEMIKONG—The upstairs hall at the Wikwemikong arena was filled to capacity for the two-day Mino Gwekwaaziiwin Wikwemikong World Diabetes Day conference November 13 and 14 as members of the community learned more about detecting, treating and managing one of the most endemic diseases impacting First Nations communities across North America.
The spreading scourge of diabetes is not limited to indigenous communities, of course, with most non-Native communities also seeing burgeoning numbers afflicted with the disease, but it is among First Nations communities that the numbers are most alarming.
Wikwemikong Chief Duke Peltier noted that the goal of the conference “has been part of my vision for the community. It is important for us to take a serious look diabetes in our community.” Understanding the true extent of the disease in the community is one of the first actions necessary to “take steps to deal with it.”
The high numbers of individuals in the community are alarming, but he pointed out that the number of people who are living with the disease who are unaware they have it is even more disturbing.
“The number of clients at the health centre diagnosed amount to about 15 percent of the community,” he said. “But we can make a safe assumption that the published number can be doubled.”
Chief Peltier said that the Mino Gwekwaaziiwin conference provides an important opportunity to educate the community on the importance of diagnosis. “People need to understand that being diagnosed with diabetes does not mean that you are tied to the health system for the rest of your life,” he said.
Diabetes nurse Collen Mailloux backed up Chief Peltier’s assessment of the number of clients at the Wikwemikong Health Centre who have been diagnosed. “There are 370 individuals in the community that we have diagnosed at the health centre,” she said. “We think the population is somewhere around 3,000.”
Ms. Mailloux said that although the numbers are daunting, they are actually much better than had first been feared would be the case when they began assembling the data. “We had thought it would be closer to 50 percent,” she said. Ms. Mailloux said she believes that the work of the community health representatives (nurses) in the community has played a strong role in keeping the numbers of those with full diabetes at bay.
“There are many programs here, cross-country skiing, hiking, snowshoeing, that have people out and being active,” she said. That community engagement at all ages in the community plays an important role in maintaining good health.
Throughout the two days of the conference attendees were able to access a wealth of knowledge at the numerous display booths and the folks from Jaguar Spirit were on hand to provide reflexology and Barb Recollet delivered seated massage sessions.
Following an opening prayer by elder Urban Mejaki and introductions by Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative Worker Bonnie Akiwenzie, Mary Jo Wabano, director of the Nahndahweh Tchigehgamig Health Centre, provided welcoming remarks.
The first day of the conference saw Ms. Mailloux deliver a talk on diabetes self management and Mike Jon Peltier and Darlene Wemigwans from the Wikwemikong Nursing Home providing demonstrations of Thera-band and chair exercises before Rita Corbiere and Brian Peltier spoke on PEP (peer education program) and its positive impact on health in the community.
The second day began with an opening prayer from traditional coordinator Barbara Peltier and a welcome from Chief Peltier before Little Current physician Dr. Kenneth Barss spoke on a diabetes led clinic and Michelle Lim of the Sudbury District Health Unit spoke on ‘Balance Approach and Healthy Eating.’ Following the nutrition break, Louise Hickey provided a Nordic pole demonstration and talk on the benefits and management of diabetes. Elder Chris Pheasant delivered a talk on the ‘Gift of Life’ before the arrival of the conference keynote speaker, health psychologist Darryl Tonemah. Mr. Tonemah is becoming a familiar face in Wikwemikong, having served as keynote speaker at the two-day conference for the past three years.
Mr. Tonemah’s popularity as a speaker becomes easy to understand as he took to the podium, although that is an entirely figurative description, as there is nothing of the “hiding behind podium” about his presentation. He moved with animation amongst the participants delivering a message of hope and proactive approaches to health.
“You are the expert on your own body,” exhorted Dr. Tonemah. “What are you willing to change?”
An American Indian health psychologist and musician of Kiowa, Comanche and Tuscarora heritage, Dr. Tonemah was born on the Tuscarosa Reservation in New York, the son of an Indian Health Service worker and a nurse. With three bachelor of arts degrees (in Psychology, Sociology and Gerontology), a master’s degree in Community Counseling and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and Cultural Studies, Dr. Tonemah is currently the director of the Health Promotion Program at the University of Oklahoma College of Continuing Education and works with Native groups across the United States and Canada promoting health and wellness. He provides behavioural support for National Institute of Health research on diabetes prevention and lifestyle change among US Indian populations and was named to the American Diabetes Association’s Board of Directors in 2011.
Dr. Tonemah is also a musician of some note, having garnered the Native American Music Award for Best Folk Recording (Welcome to Your Rainy Day) and the Silver Arrow Award for Contributions to Native American Music in 2008, which may explain to some extent his commanding stage presence.
Dr. Tonemah began his keynote by taking participants through the historical implications of colonialism and the physical and genetic impact of trauma the interactions between settler and Native communities have had on indigenous physiology. He described the changes that take place in parts of the brain when exposed to trauma before extrapolating those impacts onto entire communities.
“I swim in the gene pool of my father, my grandfather and my great grandfather” he said. He noted that a description of his own community, that of abuse, alcoholism and domestic violence, can describe nearly all Native communities across North America.
But although Dr. Tonemah’s presentation painted a grim picture of the impact that trauma, literally describing First Nations babies as being born with a form of posttraumatic stress disorder, his message was far from being one without hope.
The second half of his presentation dealt with concrete steps that individuals can take to change the dynamics of their communities.
“We have been brainwashed into thinking that the critical mass for change is 50 percent-plus one,” he said. “It is actually more like nine percent.” With nine percent of the community striving to make a social change, that change becomes all but inevitable, he said. “You have almost that many people here in this room today.”
Dr. Tonemah noted that there are three, not two, responses that the flight and response portion of the brain can bring about and that it is the secret third option that causes the most damage. “There is fight and flight, but there is a third option—freeze,” he said. “Trauma is in the freeze.” Freezing is what the young child watching his father assault his mother can only do. “He can’t run away and abandon his mother, he can’t fight his father,” said Dr. Tonemah. The antidote is in starting to learn how to deal with the freeze.
