Profile - Debbie Kanate

When Debbie Kanate was a young girl growing up in the North Caribou Lake Band in the community of Round Lake / Weagamow (a community of 850 north-west of Sioux Lookout, Ontario, accessible only by air or by road during the winter months), she always assumed she'd grow up to be a police officer. But all that changed when she was 16 and watched her grandmother die of stomach cancer. This sad event made Debbie choose a different career but one that still focused on providing care to people in Weagamow Lake.

Debbie's grandmother had a profound effect on her in another way; she encouraged Debbie to go to school and get as much education and training as she could.

Debbie took her grandmother's wishes to heart. Now 35, she is the Nurse in Charge (NIC) at the Round Lake Sena Memorial Nursing Station and has just received her Masters Degree in Public Health from Lakehead University focussing on issues relating to child obesity in First Nations' children from a nurse's perspective.

Debbie is particularly passionate about the issue of child obesity given the link between unhealthy lifestyles and Type 2 diabetes. Rates of diabetes among Aboriginal people in Canada are three to five times higher than those of the general Canadian population and Aboriginal children are also now being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, a condition that, in the past, occurred mainly in older persons.

Debbie also plans to complete a PhD down the road. All this while raising two children (Nicole 17, and Mitchell, 12) with her husband Raymond!

She's the first one to acknowledge the support she has received: financial support through the North Caribou Band, and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and the constant support from her husband Raymond who encouraged her by saying "you can do it" even when it didn't always seem possible.

Debbie's commitment to her community has been life-long. With the exception of studying in Thunder Bay to obtain her Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and a few years living in Red Lake, Debbie has always been a part of the Round Lake/Weagamow community. It's important to her that people from outside her community understand that Round Lake is a very functional community, "with a relatively healthy community and healthy lifestyles like boating, fishing, hunting, camping."

As NIC, Debbie is responsible for three full time nurses and support staff at the Round Lake Health Centre, as well as a satellite health centre in Muskrat Dam. She oversees the many programs operating from the Health Centre such as the "Well Woman" program which provides regular mammograms, pap smears, and blood tests for patients with chronic diseases.

The satellite health centre in Muskrat Dam, a community of 225, poses special challenges for Debbie who flies in once a month to ensure that the programs are operating well. Because the centre is staffed by relief nurses on a rotating basis, Debbie says that "there is a need for greater continuity", which can improve the delivery of programs and patient care.

Debbie and her staff take an active role in preventative health care in the Round Lake / Weagamow community. Every month they choose a specific health theme and plan activities in the community around that theme:

• May was awareness of diabetes and the whole community is involved in activities that range from a 10-km walk, in which up to 125 people participated; to cooking classes featuring low-fat recipes and discussions in the school on how to prevent diabetes.
• June was Seniors' Health and features discussions on how to prevent falls, demonstrations of outdoor cooking using traditional meals with an emphasis on low-fat, and singing and story-telling sessions. It's intended to address both the physical issues facing seniors and the emotional issues like social isolation.
• July focuses on addiction awareness and prevention with an emphasis on healthy lifestyles, natural remedies and traditional healing.

Debbie sees a real need to change the focus of health care from acute care to prevention and public awareness: "We try to challenge the communities about what they are doing to help raise the awareness of the community. We ask them, 'what have you done to make a difference?'"

Debbie is also passionate about the importance of nurses in Aboriginal communities. "We need t o see more First Nations nurses coming to the North to work", says Debbie. She also thinks there should be a greater focus on retaining nurses in the North through incentives.

Debbie is convinced that working in the smaller communities in the North is a unique opportunity for nurses, one that gives them a chance to work in an environment that is constantly changing; that requires a whole range of nursing skills; and that gives nurses much more autonomy than they would otherwise have in a large urban hospital.

And perhaps most enticing is Debbie's belief - "If you are bored with your work, come and work in a small northern community. You'll never be bored again."