Cultural helper training available at Royal Alex

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A one-year program at the Royal Alexandra Hospital under the supervision of Robert Cardinal will give one person the tools to help other people weather the storms of personal tragedy.

The hospital's Aboriginal Cultural Helper program, run through pastoral care, is looking for a special someone to train from September this year to August next year.

The program was launched in 2000 by Elders Joe P. Cardinal of Saddle Lake, Raven Mackinaw of Hobbema and Madge McCrae from northern Alberta and has graduated five students.

"They sort of started this whole process. This hospital is more than 100 years old and they've never had a program like this before, and what they wanted was a young man or woman who could pass on the traditions and culture of the Aboriginal people and to be there for the Aboriginal patients when they came to the hospital," he said.

Cardinal believes that in the Aboriginal culture, you should serve the Creator first, the people second and yourself last, and from his understanding he believes that this is what an Aboriginal cultural helper does.

"We work with the people just to make sure that they are taken care of. We reassure the person by being their friend and being there beside them. If you stay focused on the patients, you will never go wrong. You just have to do what you have to do," he said.

Cardinal, who has been working with Aboriginal patients at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for the past nine years, said the work is challenging. He's had to tell people that a family member has a terminal illness, or has had to counsel people when a patient is disconnected from life support. He works with people who have been in car accidents, who have been stabbed or shot.

He recalled a time when two elderly ladies had a relative who died, so he sat down and talked with them for a while and asked them if they wanted a priest, a minister or a pastor and they said no. All they asked him was if they could wash the body, so he asked them why and they said "that was their way and what it meant was that it was the last act of love that they wanted to do for their loved one." He said that these types of situations educate people, so they can see how important it is for these Elders to come in and do some of the work that they do.

Cardinal said the most challenging time comes when he has to inform a relative that a family member has died. He recalled a time when he was called into the hospital at five in the morning because of a terrible accident just outside of the city where a young Aboriginal girl was rushed to the hospital. When he got to the emergency room, there was a mother on the phone; her daughter was in a terrible accident yet she was calling home to find out if it was some mistake and that her daughter was at home.

Robert Cardinal asked her for her daughter's picture so that he could see if she was the one that was brought in. He saw a doctor, who said that the daughter had just passed on, so he had to go down to the morgue and identify the young lady.

"It was really hard to be there, especially when you see the mother in so much pain. I stayed with her in the Charles Camsell gathering room until family members began to arrive at the hospital," he said. The Charles Camsell gathering room is an area set aside that gives families a chance to get some quiet time or to participate in a sweetgrass ceremony during their visit to the hospital.

Cardinal said that he works with an average of 20 to 40 Aboriginal patients a day. He helps identify patients who come in from the inner-city area, and he contacts the inner-city agencies and describes the person to them.

"Most of them do not have family in the city, so the workers come to the hospital to identify the person," he said.

Cardinal said that a lot of times the people who survive say that his prayers have changed their lives. He believes he does the work for the Creator and the Creator should be credited and not him.

Whenever Cardinal talk to people he tells them that he does not know much, but that he will do the best he can. He always tells them that he will not preach to them, that he cannot tell them what is right or wrong, because most people know what is right and what is wrong.

"The longest journey anyone has to make is the one from their head to their heart, so I give them a little rock that they can put close their heart whenever they are going through some difficulties, and I tell them that the only way that they can keep that rock sacred is if they stay away from alcohol or drugs."

Cardinal credits his boss, Rev. Dr. Neil Elford, for helping guide him in the job. He said Elford gives him 110 per cent support and has taken part in a number of cultural ceremonies.

"He's come to understand our cultural ceremonies, and he's come to respect me as to who I am."

Mark McKennitt is presently taking the cultural helper program.

"This is a really great course. I'm learning a lot from the Elders. I like working with people, and it's been a great experience."

The program, sponsored by Capital Health, will give the student a training allowance. Applicants must have a Grade 12 education, be sober and drug-free, submit to a criminal record check, have the ability to work in a multicultural hospital environment, and be open to Aboriginal cultural ceremonies. The deadline for applications is May 23. For more information call Robert Cardinal at the Royal Alexandra Hospital at (780) 477-4119.