Pandemic has increased health-care inequity for Indigenous women, report finds

A new report into the barriers facingIndigenous women trying to access health care during the pandemic describes serious issues including racism and lack of access to mental health services.

The report titled In Her Circlealso suggests ways to provide better health-care services.

About 43 indigenous women and two-spirit individuals spoke about their experiences through telephone and online interviews in November 2020.

Researchers found many Indigenous women said changes to services because of the COVID-19 pandemic led to "limited access to mental health care, medical services, and other health-related programming, including face-to-face appointments."

The new report comes afterformer judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafondreleased her findingsinto anti-Indigenous racism in the healthcare system in February.

Turpel-Lafond founda high portion ofIndigenous people in the province lackaccess to family doctors and other primary-care services, and instead end up in emergency rooms dealing with health crises.

Addressing racism and cultural safety

Kim van der Woerdis the co-founder ofReciprocal Consulting which partnered with the B.C. Women's Health Foundation to producethe report.

"Any inequities that were present were just made larger because of the pandemic," she says."A contributor to inequity is the fact that we have pretty pronounced racism within the system of health care."

The report foundsome patients felt unfairly singled out for possibly having a COVID-19 infection because they are Indigenous.

"I'd rather tell people I have a sexually transmitted infection ... than having to go get tested for COVID. I don't know there was something about it that was really stigmatizing," said one participant.

According to the report, some women described interactions that "modelled cultural ignorance and racist sentiment,particularly in emergency rooms."

Van der Ward says there are opportunities to make positive changes including an outreach plan to helpindividuals get access to technology for medical appointments, particularly in areas withoutadequate internet service, and hiring Indigenous patient liaison workers who can serve as patient advocates to help foster trust in the medical system.

Bad experiences

The report studiedthe experiences of Indigenous women and two-spirit individuals from all five health-care regions in B.C.

Nikki Sanchez who is Indigenous, Pipil/Maya and Irish/Scottish,described howshe ended up being taken to Royal Jubilee hospital in Victoria by ambulancethree weeks agosuffering from pelvic pain but says her concerns were dismissed.

"Really bewildered. I was in so much pain already."

Sanchez said once at the hospital she laid down on the hospital floor because of her pain but alleges hospital staff told her to get up.

"Basically started yelling at me saying that if I didn't get up, they were going to have security come and remove me."

She said her experience is an example of whatIndigenous women can face when trying to access services.