"Every infant who dies … I believe is a tragedy we should follow up on," Smylie said. She also spoke of stereotypical and at times racist treatment received by native people.
"I saw a lot of challenges when I was delivering babies here in Ottawa. Young aboriginal moms who had perfectly good networks of family support — sometimes they were being referred to have the social worker see them even though their family was strong. I remember [another] … patient who had called into the hospital in a little bit of a panic. She had some anxiety and a strong accent. The triage nurse called me and said: 'There's something wrong with your patient. I think she's retarded.'"
"Those are stories that are just a little too frequent."
The organizations and researchers who instigated, implemented, charted and compiled the results of the study hope that the information produced by this report will become the basis for stronger policies and programs to improve children's health in the aboriginal and indigenous communities.
6 comments:
There's something wrong with your patient. I think she's retarded.
I see this kind of racist reaction on a daily basis in Winnipeg. It's shocking and depressing. The institutionalized form is the worst - nobody wants to admit that it is rampant among policing bodies, hospitals, other public services, the media and local commerce.
A former co-worker and his wife, both Mi'kmaq, both non-drinkers or abusers of anything stronger than coffee, were in an Ottawa hospital for their baby's birth. Immediately after delivery, two things happened. A social worker told them that their baby showed signs of Fetal Alcohol Effects/Syndrome. Did they want to put their baby up for adoption?
The parents were shocked, stunned, angered by the racist and insensitive actions of the social worker and the clinical staff. Their medical histories were there for all to see, except those so-called professionals decided that the only evidence they needed for a determination of FAS/E with the baby was the colour of the parents' skin and their race.
I'm not a litigious person by nature but damn, I think people confronted with such racism should be suing these institutions.
The occurrence of FAE/S is increasing in the non-Aboriginal population; interestingly enough health care providers are not as trigger-quick to label or to present pre-emptive diagnoses with regard to middle-to-upper class parents of European ancestry, even when dealing with toddlers and older children with well-documented behavioural and cognitive disorders.
I imagine when it involves middle class parents of European ancestry, they look for ADD or autism as the culprit. It reminds me of how health professionals in the US assumed that most inner city births to single Black women were crack babies.
Bonjour Ruth! Glad you enjoy reading us - we certainly enjoy bloggling.
Post a Comment