An upcoming Yellowknife medical conference seeks to bring nurses, emergency medical technicians, doctors and specialists together to help develop a more cohesive strategy to Northern healthcare.
Now in its second year, the Peer North conference will take place Sept. 19 to 21.
“In the spirit of facilitating relationships to improve healthcare practice in communities across the North, the Peer North planning committee invites healthcare providers to join this culturally relevant, evidence-based educational forum,” says the website. “In addition to the enriching professional sessions, attendees can look forward to engaging in a range of social and land-based cultural activities.
“(Our mission is) to create a culturally relevant educational forum tailored to the Northern healthcare community while fostering meaningful connections and enhancing relationships. This takes place whilst addressing current primary care topics of interest with an evidence-based approach applicable to practice.”
Attendance is open to nurses, practitioners, family physicians, pharmacists, allied health professionals, medical students and “wanna-be Northerners.”
Leading up to the conference will be as series of workshops. To date, workshops on wilderness medicine, evidence-based medicine and both advanced cardiovascular life support (ACLS) and pediatric advanced life support (PALS) certification are available leading up. An ‘On the Land with Indigenous Leaders’ workshop will kick off the conference proper, taking participants through the local wilderness around the city, showing traditional medicines used for time immemorial.
Topics for discussion this year include management of tuberculosis, new insights in pediatric care, mental health in primary care, delivering babies in remote communities, approaches to post-traumatic stress disorder, preparing patients for medical travel and primary care for hepatitis C. The opening evening of the conference will be filled with activities, including canoe trips around the area, live painting workshops and campfire songs.
“After years of communications with Northern health care leaders, the Northwest Territories Medical Association (NWTMA) sensed a need for greater collaboration to share experiences and knowledge unique to Northern practice,” reads the website. “With support from Practice NWT, and in partnership with PEER (Patients, Experience, Evidence, Research), an organization free from industry bias, we have created a Northern family medicine educational forum with unique local and Indigenous cultural offerings.
“We are committed to recruiting benevolent healthcare providers to support our diverse and knowledgable land-loving population. We hope you will join us and come to love our people and land as much as we do.”
NNSL Media reached out to conference organizers for more information on Peer North, but did not receive a response as of press time.