Cree Nation Grand Chief Abel Bosum and Bella Petawabano, chairperson of the Cree Health Board, using the new East Cree Medical App.
QUEBEC-On April 20, 2018 the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay (CBHSSJB) launched a smartphone app of medical terms in East Cree dialects of Southern Inland, Southern Coastal and Northern, available for download on the iOS App Store and Google Play.
The Cree Medical App is a free tool designed to improve the cultural safety of Cree patients, especially those undergoing cancer care. It is a glossary and translation dictionary intended to give a fun and educational experience to patients and their families, and to help healthcare workers and service providers communicate with their clients in Cree.
The app was originally created as part of the federally-funded Cancer Project of Regions 17 and 18, and is the culmination of many years of work by linguists, teachers, specialists and consultants from Eeyou Istchee and across Canada. It is available for download free of charge on iOS and Android.
The CBHSSJB hope to expand the application to be useable for other health predicaments besides cancer.
The official launch of the app was moved to an earlier date than originally planned so it could be done to honor Ann Marie Awashish, a person key to the app's development. Awashish was honored not only for her leadership in developing the app but also for her lifelong contribution to the well-being of her adopted community. The East Cree Medical app is the latest example of her exceptional ability to apply leadership and coordination skills to move from a vision to a concrete project for the betterment of the community.
Ann Marie played a crucial role in organizing the Cree hunters to oppose the James Bay hydro developments, which later led to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. Coming to Eeyou Istchee as a young woman, she has been an active champion of Cree self-determination, and an advocate and protector of Cree culture, language and traditions.
In the early 1970s, she founded and became the Executive Director of Québec's first Friendship Centre in Chibougamau. She was later elected Councillor for the Mistassini Band. Twenty years ago, she successfully negotiated financing for Mistissini Chisheinuukamikw, the Mistissini Elders' Home, of which she is still a member of the Board.
More recently coming to work in the Public Health Department of the CBHSSJB, she carried out 100 interviews with cancer survivors and their families in Eeyou Istchee and Nunavik and the ensuing report was used to obtain funding for the Cancer Project. Her work then focused on improving services for patients. Regrettably, while working on this project, she was herself diagnosed with cancer, but, nevertheless, continued to provide valuable contributions when health permitted. Ann Marie is now in palliative care at Chibougamau Regional Hospital.
The app was created by the Public Health Language Working Group, comprised of Cree language specialists, linguists, teachers and broadcasters from the region and within Canada. It was funded by the CBHSSJB, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Carleton University and the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer.
