Supporting Indigenous wellness through learning and education
VCH is committed to reconciliation, education and access to culturally safe, high-quality care for Indigenous patients, clients and their families. To achieve this, care teams need to understand and practice care informed by the history and culture of Indigenous Peoples.
In 2024, almost 4,000 staff and medical staff completed VCH’s Indigenous cultural safety training, known as Hummingbird.
Through online and in-person learning for staff and medical staff, VCH is promoting awareness and understanding of Indigenous cultural safety, along with Indigenous-specific anti-racism. This is helping to foster a safer and more respectful health-care environment.
VCH has also expanded Indigenous cultural safety into onboarding, training and standard operating procedures, which is another way VCH is fostering an inclusive and culturally safe environment for Indigenous peoples.
Pictured here, VCH staff and medical staff participate in a module 2 Hummingbird training session in Whistler, B.C. This module of the training is a 4.5 hour in-person session, which covers Indigenous resilience and health effects on Indigenous Peoples and an overview of VCH’s Cultural Safety Policy and its application.
4,000
Staff completed VCH’s Indigenous cultural safety training in 2024
2
Modules of Indigenous cultural safety training, known as Hummingbird.
New Indigenous Crisis Response team: a first for B.C.
A new Indigenous Crisis Response Team is the first Indigenous-specific crisis response service of its kind in B.C. and is providing culturally safe and wholistic non-police crisis response services for people in the Downtown Eastside community in Vancouver.
Launched in 2024, the team provides same-day mobile mental health and wellness crisis response services for people who may be experiencing or nearing a mental health crisis and who may actively use substances.
The team, which includes nurses, allied health professionals and Indigenous cultural workers, provides critical incident and stress debriefing, as well as wellness checks and follow-ups with clients which could include connecting them to Indigenous cultural supports and health system navigation.
The team was developed using Indigenous Health System Transformation and Distinction-Based Approaches with representatives from the First Nations and Aboriginal Primary Care Network, Squamish Nation Yúustway Health & Wellness and Musqueam Health.