Sault Ste. Marie, ON, December 12, 2024 – Maamwesying Ontario Health Team (MOHT) has announced that Mental Health and Addictions will be the focus of its Year 2 priority population. By establishing this priority, the MOHT aims to spotlight areas of improvement, envision a better future, and develop a collaborative, action-oriented plan with its First Nation Community Partners.
To initiate this project, community engagement events will be occurring in each of the 10 MOHT Core Partner First Nation Communities, as well as internally at Maamwesying North Shore Community Health Services. The results of these engagement events will assist in setting the priorities for the improvement work moving forward and will culminate into a single shared vision of a future state and actionable plans on how this will be achieved.
The first of these events occurred on December 12th, 2024 internally with Maamwesying North Shore Community Health Services. Front-line staff and leadership, including primary care providers, mental health professionals, traditional health and healing, nursing and allied health gathered for a Kaizen event to initiate this important work. The event opened with remarks and a prayer from Steve Baranyai of the Benbowopka Treatment Centre.
During the event, participants documented their processes and identified opportunities to improve the delivery of Mental Health and Addictions care. A word cloud reflecting the participants’ shared values was created, capturing the key qualities they believe should guide Mental Health and Addictions service delivery. The most common words included:
- Compassion
- Understanding
- Empathy
- Non-Judgemental
- Respect
- Acceptance
- Advocacy
Maamwesying North Shore Community Health Services Inc. Chief Executive Officer Carol Eshkakogan was in attendance and shared some of the history, and what brought us to where we are today. “Maamwesying is the only Indigenous-led, Indigenous-focused Ontario Health Team. It was established as a result of 30 years of advocacy, collaboration, and the drive for self-determination for the health of our First Nation communities. We will continue this work together as we have always done to strive for improvements in Mental Health and Addictions care.”
Maamwesying Ontario Health Team
The Maamwesying Ontario Health Team was announced in October of 2022 to seamlessly integrate health care services for clients in the communities of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek, Sagamok Anishnawbek, Serpent River First Nation, Mississauga First Nation, Thessalon First Nation, Garden River First Nation, Batchewana First Nation, Michipicoten First Nation, Chapleau Cree First Nation, Chapleau Ojibwe First Nation, and Brunswick House First Nation, as well as the urban Indigenous population in Sault Ste. Marie.
Maamwesying means “the act of working as one” in Ojibway. The vision of our agency is “Maamwesying kina gweyahn N’minobimaadizing” which means “Working as One for the Wellbeing of All”.
The mission is to collaborate with our community partners to provide accessible, quality, culturally safe and holistic health care to support and enhance the wellness of individuals, families and communities.
What is a Kaizen Event?
The word “Kaizen” is a Japanese word that can be loosely translated as “change for the good”. It is a framework for brainstorming and developing solutions to address organizational needs or drive continuous improvement. A Kaizen event includes identifying needs, analyzing current processes, identifying gaps/opportunities, mapping a desired future state, and developing a prioritized action plan.
