Aboriginal cultural workers in Saskatoon hospitals

Aboriginal cultural workers in Saskatoon hospitals

Ron Thompson and Delores Wutunee-Gardipy have been hired to fill two newly created positions as Aboriginal cultural workers, helping to meet the spiritual needs of patients in the Saskatoon Health Region. The creation of the new positions came out of a recommendation in the region’s Aboriginal health strategy report, completed in May 2010. “One of the things that we discovered was the need for cultural and spiritual support for Aboriginal patients in the hospital,” Brian Walton, project lead for spiritual health and development for the health region, told the StarPhoenix. The one-year contract positions, which began in May, will be reviewed at the end of the term. Wutunee-Gardipy is based at St. Paul’s Hospital while Thompson is at Royal University Hospital and also spends two mornings a week at City Hospital.