Tuesday 11 December 2012
Home Care Services Within Aboriginal Communities With Females being the primary care givers.
Home Care Services Within Aboriginal Communities With Females being the primary care givers.
-More Involvement in homecare polies!
Women have always been the primary caregivers within our families and often times we overlook their importance. I particularly wanted to focus on the role that Anishaabe women play in taking care of the elderly within their families and the importance of having their voice within the health system.
Anishabe women have played an important role as care providers and healers within their communities and families (Prokop, Haug, Hogan, McCarthy & Lorraine, 2004). Caregivers is a title giving to those who take care of others and according to characteristics of family/Friends care networks of frail seniors article most caregivers comprise of younger females that are geographically proximate. They comprise of in higher proportions of women who are kin (Fast, Keating, Otfinowski & Derksen, 2004).
While reading the Aboriginal women and home care article it focused particularly on the focus of home care and how this helps continue culture as well as traditions. It also mentioned “ the vision of the elders, handicapped and chronically and acutely ill, is to continue to live productive, useful lives in their homes, close to their families, in their communities (Prokop, Haug, Hogan, McCarthy & Lorraine, 2004).
A great focus within this topic was the need for the Anishaabe view within the health care system in Canada, which would combat the higher systemic discrimination they face (Prokop, Haug, Hogan, McCarthy & Lorraine, 2004). This would be important because they would not just be “subjects of home care policy and program development” but would take an active role to “in programing shaped by their culture, values, aspirations, healing gifts, vision and understanding of health” (Prokop, Haug, Hogan, McCarthy & Lorraine, 2004).
Having this involvement within programing I think would mirror the social democrat ideology of everyone having equal chances especially in public welfare. This would be an investment in the people and would be a greater result for the communities involved. It is not enough to just have programing if it does not benefit they people in which it is ment. Especially the Anishaabe community which already face many other inequalities.
Hoda
References:
Fast, J., Keating, N., Otfinowski, P., & Derksen, L. (2004). Characteristics of family/friend care networks. Canadian Journal of Aging, 23(1), 5-19.
Prokop, S. T., Haug, E., Hogan, M., McCarthy, J., & Lorraine, M. (2004). Aboriginal women and home care. In K. R. Grant, C. Amaratunga, P. Armstrong, M. Boscoe & A. Pederson (Eds.),Caring, Home Care,and Unpaid CaregivingRetrieved from http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=sUUOvkyRsKcC&oi=fnd&pg=PA147&dq=aboriginal women and home care&ots=ClPFPa-Srv&sig=vWt-_mVYmJfjTYC3bhWiAWXrRoc
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Hoda, I agree that the primary caregivers in a family are the women. Yes, Aboriginal women should have a voice in the health system concerning the role they play caring for their elderly. Who better to know the needs of an elder than a family member and that would be a female family memeber.
ReplyDeleteThis has always been a tradition of Native culture to take care of their elders. Elders in Native communities are highly respected for their knowledge of culture and history. An Aboriginal women's voice, concerning the treatment of the elderly, would definitely be an asset in development of polices for these wonderful amazing people.
Jen M
Hello Hoda,
ReplyDeleteI have never known that Aboriginal women take a very important role in caring for elderly.I agree with the suggestion that was provided by this blog which focused on that fact that Aboriginal women should be given the opportunity to improve their develop their skills and improve their potentials when it comes to caring for elderly. Since they have good relationships with elderly and connect with them emotionally and spiritually, then I also believe that they deserve to have any health support they need to provide a better service for elderly.
-Farah
Hoda,
ReplyDeleteGreat post and topic. I agree and think that the opportunity should be given to them to improve their skills in this field. With improvement their care will only become better than what it already is. I think that because the women take on such an important role it will be more beneficial to them too, than just the care of others.
When you are passionate about something it usually means that you do your best with whatever it may be, and in this case care for the elderly.
Also taking an active role in programming shaped by their culture, values, and ect will only be more beneficial to those they are helping. Culture and values are so important to everyone which is why they should remain present in healthcare.
Geraldine