The program, which is supported by the RBC Experiential Learning Travel Initiative, was given the name ‘Ndinawemaaganag’ – Anishinaabemowin for ‘all my relations’ – by Elder Margaret Lavallee, of Ongomiizwin – Indigenous Institute of Health and Healing, to reflect the connections the students were making with each other, the land and the community.  

It began in 2017 as a two-week experience for interprofessional students to work together in First Nation health centres and nursing stations. Over the last few years, the program has evolved to include students helping at sundance ceremonies in four communities.  

“In 2019, the health director in Misipawistik Cree Nation near Grand Rapids suggested the students be helpers at one of their sundances. She suggested attending a land-based ceremony would be a powerful way for us to learn about community, health and ways of healing,” said Lisa Mendez, collaborative health care practice lead with OIPC. 

A sundance is a sacred ceremony that, while once outlawed in Canada, has made a resurgence in many Indigenous communities. George Muswaggon, Knowledge Keeper at Ongomiizwin, said that each community’s sundance is unique, although they all share core values of spirituality, community and nature.  

For these specific sundances, an eight-sided lodge is erected where a four-day ceremony is held. The size of the lodge varies, depending on the needs of the community. Sweat lodges are also built for participants to use prior to the ceremony. 

Muswaggon described the sundance and related activities as a “crash course in culture” and said students assist with anything that is needed, including the building of the lodges. 

“It’s one of the best cross-cultural trainings that you can provide future health professionals. The building of the lodge – also known as ‘tree day’ – is labour-intensive. It is a marathon day that is hands-on and has all the elements – mosquitos, terrain, sun, rain,” he said. “But you can see the students’ desire to learn. The transformation observed has time and again demonstrated that learning opportunities like these should continue to be supported and expanded.” 

Dustin Erickson at Misipawistik Cree Nation.

Since the program’s inception, 48 learners from eight Rady programs have helped in 10 ceremonies. This year, students from nursing, midwifery, pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, respiratory therapy and medicine took part in four sundances in Spruce Woods, Misipawistik Cree Nation, Opaskwayak Cree Nation and Pimicikamak Cree Nation. 

Dana Riseling, a second-year occupational therapy student from the College of Rehabilitation Sciences, was involved in two sundances this summer. She helped with building the lodge and assisted with smudging.  

“It’s a very intimate space and it was humbling and an honour to be able to participate in that way,” she said. 

Riseling said the experiences opened her mind to using a holistic approach in her future work. 

“In Western medicine, we have a tendency to focus on the individual, and often at the cost of the individual becoming separated from their community. I want to consider how I can incorporate community-level care and advocate for people to receive care within their family and community setting.” 

Jordan Braun, who graduated from the College of Nursing in October, took part in two sundances over the last two summers. Braun is Métis and wanted to witness Indigenous ceremony and see how that relates to his own identity. 

“I was raised to be a French and English person…so that’s always been a bit of a challenge – where do I fit in my Indigenous identity?” he said. 

Braun said he recognized the power the ceremonies had for those who took part, particularly those who may have been recovering from addictions or going through depression. 

“Something that seems to be taught more in nursing more recently is seeing health holistically, instead of just as physical health. And it gave me some concrete examples of how spiritual health can affect someone’s mental health and then improve their physical health as well.” 

Dustin Erickson, a second-year medical student in the Max Rady College of Medicine, took part in a sundance at Misipawistik Cree Nation this summer. He said that during his experience, he was able to have powerful conversations with community members about the importance of culture in their healing journey. 

“We learn in class about how important it is to incorporate values, culture and community into our practice, but you really don’t see the extent of how powerful it is until you are out there, seeing people immersed in culture and ceremony.”  

The event was organized by Sarah Conci, physical therapy instructor and coordinator of the UM Student-Led Interprofessional Neuro Clinic (SLIC), housed at Riverview Health Centre, along with UTurn Parkinson’s, a Winnipeg-based organization focused on wellness and exercise. 

Nineteen students from the College of Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Nursing and College of Pharmacy participated, as part of fieldwork placements. It was held May 23 at Churchill Park United Church, where UTurn Parkinson’s regularly meets with members.  

A similar workshop, focused solely on physical therapy, was held last year. Conci said the idea of incorporating an interprofessional focus came as she was screening clients for the clinic, which usually offers one-on-one goal-oriented and task-based physiotherapy treatment sessions. 

“I was talking to a lot of people with Parkinson’s disease who had questions and goals related to exercise and wellness, but their needs didn’t really fit for our typical programming,” she said. 

Second-year physical therapy (PT) student Kiersten Hilland has worked with several clients with Parkinson’s in her placements and was excited to bring the group together.  

“I’ve noticed when we do workshops that a large part of it is the community people form. They sit together and share their experiences, and now they have people from different health professions here to answer any questions,” she said. 

The PT students led participants through movement exercises that were geared to various levels of difficulty, based on UTurn Parkinson’s colour-coded system for exercise. Students wore t-shirts in four different colours – green, yellow, orange and red – and participants could follow the student wearing the colour that best suited their abilities. 

Second-year respiratory therapy (RT) student Graciel Espiritu said Parkinson’s can lead to severe breathing difficulties. Two RT students were on hand to discuss how they can work with those living with Parkinson’s. 

“RTs work closely with clients by focusing on respiratory function as a therapeutic target to enhance quality of life,” Espiritu said. 

Sophie Harms was one of four nursing students who took part. They discussed the symptoms and progression of the disease based on changes in the brain.  

“With nursing, education is a big part of patient advocacy that we do, so this is a great opportunity to engage with members of the community and provide some education,” Harms said. 

First-year occupational therapy (OT) student Jess Friesen said she was looking forward to working on an interprofessional project on this scale.  

“For OT students, we do a lot of interprofessional work in our program. We talk a lot about where OT fits within these interprofessional roles, so SLIC allows us the opportunity to put what we have learned into practice,” Friesen said. 

Three fourth-year pharmacy students gave a presentation on the most common medications used for Parkinson’s and information on interactions with over-the-counter medications. 

“It was really eye opening to see how many questions there were for us at the end,” said Daria Rempel. “It was a really good reminder of how impactful Parkinson’s medication regimens can be on patients’ lives.” 

UTurn Parkinson’s was founded eight years ago by Tim Hague, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2011. He said the event was a great way to get word out about the organization to young people entering health careers. 

“We know that Parkinson’s has no cure, that it is progressive, and the only thing that we’ve found that will make things better for us – other than our medication – is exercise,” he said. “But the students bring the whole analytical side to it, the research – plus a lot of energy and knowledge from their individual specialties.” 

The trip was organized by the Office of Interprofessional Collaboration (OIPC) in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, with financial support from the College of Rehabilitation Sciences Endowment Fund.

The students travelled from February 16-25 starting to the capital city of Quito and small communities in the Andes.  They spent six days in the rainforest in Amupakin, a birthing centre run by a collective of traditional Kichwa midwives known as “mamas.” Additionally, the group took part in hands-on workshops, cultural exchanges and harvested medicinal plants.

Lisa Mendez, occupational therapy instructor and interprofessional practice coordinator with OIPC, facilitated renewing a collaboration that had previously been led by the UM Office of Community Engaged Learning (CEL).

“Last year, I went down there with my family to try to stoke the fire that the pandemic put a damper on, to see if they wanted to keep the relationship going,” Mendez said.

She said facilitating the experience through Rady was a natural fit, as the community was keen to host future health-care providers.

One of the main objectives of the trip was to recognize the importance of cultural safety in providing health care within Indigenous communities. Mendez, who has been coordinating groups of Rady students to learn from Indigenous communities in Manitoba since 2017, noted the students will also have an opportunity to learn in Manitoba First Nation communities this summer.

“I want to make sure we can link this back to our local context. Learning about traditional ways of knowing and being doesn’t have borders.”

Occupational therapy student Josée Rochon.

Second-year occupational therapy (OT) student Josée Rochon, said she saw the trip as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn about another culture.

“Most of the mamas spoke Spanish, and I’m pretty good with Spanish so I could understand that. But some of them only spoke Kichwa, which is a whole other language,” she said.

Rochon, who plans to work in community health in Kenora, Ont., said she was impressed with how the community cares for the land and how different plants are used for medicine.

“It definitely broadened my understanding of different ways of knowing. We’ve also been learning a lot about Indigenous cultures in OT and I saw a lot of connections.”

Second-year respiratory therapy student Airha Ramilo said she was particularly interested in seeing how plants were used to treat respiratory diseases in the community.

“If a patient was coughing, or even had an illness like COVID, the mamas would combine different plants to treat it. Growing up with Western medicine, I never thought about plants in a medicinal way, so I thought that was very fascinating,” she said.

She was also impressed with how traditional medicines were part of their day-to-day lives.

“One of the mamas got stung by a scorpion while she was preparing food. She brushed it off, applied some medicines from the rainforest, wrapped something around it, and continued as usual.”

Nicole Martin, a third-year student in the College of Nursing’s midwifery program, has always had an interest in working internationally and saw the trip as a perfect opportunity.

“I gained such an appreciation for the knowledge that these women carry. They’ve been practicing for generations and carry so much wisdom and knowledge,” Martin said.

She also gained an appreciation for the other health disciplines represented on the trip.

“It was great to learn what respiratory therapists and occupational therapists do. It was a wonderful way to collaborate and build respect for each other’s professions,” Martin said.

One of the Amupakin community midwives with respiratory therapy students Airha Ramilo and Emily Bjarnarson.

Shelly Lam, a second-year physical therapy student, appreciated working with students from other disciplines as well.

“I thought it was a really valuable experience getting to work with the midwifery students. They talked about concepts that I don’t get to think a lot about in physiotherapy, like women’s health and the birthing process.”

She said she now wants to learn more about Indigenous populations close to home.

“I want to help amplify the voices of those who have valuable lived experiences to share, but may not have the means. The mamas have so much knowledge, but they don’t have the ability to write academic papers and share their knowledge with the world in that way,” she said.

“From the very first moment we met, they welcomed us as family and I could feel the warmth and kindness of the community. It was a very memorable experience.”

The OIPC is planning another trip to Ecuador for April that will also include representation from the College of Pharmacy.