About Us ● Kiistonnoon
About the Blood Tribe Department of Health
Vision ● Iinaisstsiyissini
Blood Tribe members to be living in a holistic lifestyle in healthy communities.
Mission
To improve, promote and deliver accredited health services on the Blood Reserve and support Chief and Council in ensuring the protection of treaty health rights.
Since 1984, Blood Tribe Department of Health (BTDH) has been in operation as an entity pursuant to the provisions of the formally Canada Corporations Act now Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act and is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of elected or appointed Directors. In essence, the BTDH Board has a functional role as “policy-makers” and thus relies on its delegate, the Chief Executive Officer, to ensure its policies and the BTDH programs are operational and that strategic plans and operational plans are implemented.
The Blood Tribe Department of Health employs approximately 500 employees both full time and part time. Currently the programs offered to the Blood Tribe Community include:
- Health Administration
- Facility Operations
- Emergency Services
- Community Health
- Wellness
- Client Services
- Bringing the Spirit Home
- Non-Insured Health Benefits
- Lethbridge Wellness Shelter
Rental space is available to clinical programs offered by contracted services providers including Physicians, Dentist, and Pharmacist.
Kainayssini Traditional Values
The Blood Tribe Department of Health is guided by Kainayssini traditional values:
Hear the pronounciation of each value listed below.
Listen
Our History
Narrative History of Our Health Care by Sai’kapooksii Jim Wells
The history of our health care services goes back a long time in our Indian country, the Blood Indian Reserve. Before the arrival of medical doctors and nurses, medicine men cared for our people who suffered from many diseases and ailments. There were a number of them who practiced the rituals of healing and offered their services at the request of family members or the sick person himself.
These medicine men were self-proclaimed men who claimed to have had a vision or were inspired by other members of our Tribe to practice the traditional healing rituals. They used different techniques to try and drive out the evil spirit in the body of the sick person and attempt to make that person well and healthy again. There were also midwives who assisted the women to give birth to a healthy child.
As much as their knowledge provided them, they performed rituals and other spiritual activities with the help of the medicinal herbs, roots and other things believed to have medicinal powers that Mother Nature had blessed us with.
Iinaisstsiyissini ● Medicine Chest Promise
Signing of Treaty 7 in 1877, we were promised rights to medical services and health care for our people for as long as we live. We believe it was all-inclusive under the term “medicine chest” The medicine chest was an important part of our signing of the Treaty and was understood to provide doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to care for us when we were ill and had new sicknesses that our own medicine people could not handle.
Akaitaisokinakino’p Blood Indian Hospital
In 1893, the first hospital on the Blood reserve was established by Grey Nuns, Catholic missionaries. While Catholic missionaries-controlled facilities on the reserve, Anglican missionaries also developed their own infirmaries in residential schools. Tuberculosis was prevalent among children, with infection rates ranging from 50 to 100 percent in southern Alberta in 1909. Consequently, residential schools had to provide treatment, with infected students cared for by federally appointed medical officers and school matrons.
It wasn’t until 1928 that a modern hospital was built for the Blood population, funded by the federal government. This hospital continued to be staffed by Grey Nuns nurses. The Blood Indian Hospital structural design featured high ceilings for ample airspace, smaller wards, sterilizer equipment, a separate dispensary, and dietary room.
Physicians of the time emphasized the importance of hospital design in treating tuberculosis, focusing on access to food, fresh air, and sunlight. The Blood Indian Hospital was designed with medical facilities and architectural trends of the 1920s, featuring large windows and verandahs for patients with tuberculosis.
The Blood Indian Hospital closed once the Kainai Continuing Care Centre was established, and under the Blood Tribe Department of Health, now provides comprehensive Health and Wellness programming and services for Blood Tribe members.