The Somerset West Community Health Centre in Chinatown has received $10,000 from two pharmaceutical companies to help improve staff’s ability to recognize and respond more effectively to problems triggered by underlying traumatic causes.
The donation, presented on Oct. 15 by Tony Boghossian, the owner of Centretown’s Bell Pharmacy, and by Andrew Parkes, the president of I.D.A Enterprise, will be used to educate employees about providing treatment that is sensitive to how past physical, mental and emotional ordeals may be causing current symptoms, a concept defined in the healthcare industry as being trauma-informed.
According to trauma expert, Cheryl Matthews, co-ordinator at the Manitoba Trauma Information and Education Centre, “When folks are trauma-informed, they think from the perspective of ‘I wonder what happened to this person to cause them so much pain,’ instead of what is wrong with them.”
Although workshop plans and a date to begin training have yet to be finalized, Anne Christie-Teeter, manager of Somerset West CHC’s mental health and addictions program, says employees could be looking at things such as the design of their space, the lighting and the way they greet new people coming into the centre to better accommodate the different kinds of struggles clients may have experienced.
Christie-Teeter says something as simple as using a particular tone of voice could trigger negative reactions in someone who has experienced trauma in a similar setting in the past.
“For example, some of the survivors who were witness to the horrendous bus-train crash two years ago have not been able to take a bus since then – let alone look at one,” she says.
The idea came from Klinic Community Health Centre in Manitoba. Siffan Rahman, a program co-ordinator at the Ottawa Newcomer Clinic, a branch that assists refugees at the Chinatown healthcare centre, says she has asked Klinic for its training plans to use as a model.
Matthews, who has since 2007 overseen trauma-informed training at Klinic, says the workshops included things such as defining and recognizing trauma and discussing how establishing a positive relationship between patient and healthcare provider can help the recovery process.
Boghossian, who spoke on behalf of the donors, says they wanted to support the excellent service Somerset West CHC is providing to the community. He hopes this new direction will increase trauma awareness at the centre.
“Trauma doesn’t have to be an accident. A crisis can be psychological or a violent situation and sometimes it is hidden, so it is important to learn how to properly identify it in patients,” he says.
“Some of the refugees that are coming to Canada have seen violent events. They lose some family member and then they are traumatized, but they will mask it,” Boghossian adds. “It really is a widespread problem.”
Christie-Teeter says community health centres across the city have been discussing new ways to deal with the prevalence of trauma for some time now.
“Becoming trauma-informed is something we have been talking about within the organization and with all of our sister community health centres for awhile,” she says. “The stars aligned with this generous donation and putting it towards this cause just seemed very opportune.”
Tim Wall, former director of counselling services at Klinic, says it is critically important for healthcare organizations to increase sensitivity to possible trauma in their patients.
“The impact of trauma is far-reaching and is often at the root of many of the social and public health problems that challenge our society,” says Wall. “It would be irresponsible of us not to have an understanding of how trauma is affecting people’s lives.”