SLMHC finds its place among list of prominent healthcare collaborators

SIOUX LOOKOUT—This past October, Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre (SLMHC) partnered with the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) to adapt their patient guide, titled “5 Questions To Ask About Your Medications,” to local Indigenous dialects. The resource, designed as part of the CPSI’s national campaign to prevent harm and reduce medication errors through increased patient/healthcare provider dialogue, was first reviewed by SLMHC’s Quality and Patient Safety Lead Adrienne Crosby back in September. At that time, she was eager to distribute the online-ready Cree and Ojibway versions of the guide during SLMHC’s Patient Safety Week 2018, but she soon discovered that some wording did not accurately reflect the local dialects spoken by patients of the hospital.

Determined to turn the guide into a useful tool for SLMHC, Crosby received permission from CPSI to adapt it to dialects more commonly spoken in this region—not an uncommon request to the organization. She then set about the task of adapting the guide with Ojibway-speaking translator Renee Southwind and Cree-speaking translator Josephine Turtle, who in turn provided feedback and rephrased wording to match local dialects.

Not only did the finalized Ojibway and Cree guides receive positive feedback from SLMHC management and senior administration, the SLMHC name and logo are now proudly displayed among the documents’ prominent contributors and endorsers.

Speaking to the efforts of the translation team, Crosby said, “We wanted to have a patient resource that was accessible and understandable to the majority of clients we serve.” Adding, “Our patients need to feel comfortable with the medications they’re taking, and if not, they need to know what questions to ask their healthcare providers. The ‘5 Questions’ guide can now help them with those conversations.”

The SLMHC-updated Cree and Ojibway versions of “5 Questions to Ask About Your Medications” were first distributed for use during the hospital’s Patient Safety Week celebration (October 29 – November 2, 2018), just as Crosby had hoped.