Blood Tribe uses lessons learned during the opioid crisis
Coun. Lance Tailfeathers of the Blood Tribe says lessons learned from the opioid epidemic are helping the community respond to a COVID -19 outbreak that has so far infected 15 people.
The Blood Tribe, also known as the Kainai Nation, is the largest First Nation in Canada, with more than 14,000 members. It declared a local state of emergency March 16 as a precaution, and had its first novel coronavirus case at the end of April.
Fifteen cases are now confirmed on the Blood reserve, says Blood Tribe Emergency Management. Ten remain active and five people have recovered. These are the results of 706 COVID -19 tests, meaning about two per cent have come back positive.
“Unfortunately, the lesson learned was in 2015, when we had the opioid crisis. There were two weeks with 20 deaths,” Tailfeathers said. “We put together a core group, so a lot of the players in that from different departments like health and family support had already gone through this before, so we regrouped.”
Ultimately, their mission is to save lives, and doing so largely comes down to keeping members informed.
“When you’re on the nation, you can only control so much, but a lot of it is just awareness,” he said. “There was (anxiety) at first but I put myself out there — I think I’m one of the few councillors that actually participates in social media — so I just weathered the storm and l kept giving updates on my own page,” Tailfeathers said.
Now, updates are shared on the Blood Tribe Communications Facebook page. The emergency management team, band council and the Blood Tribe Department of Health meet regularly to stay up to date on COVID-19 in the community.
The first case of COVID-19 involved a band member who works at the nearby Bouvry Exports meat-packing plant in Fort Macleod. He was infected on the job. Some of the subsequent cases are linked to community transmission.
Tailfeathers said some of the challenges the nation faces are multi-family households and travel in and out of the reserve. He said about one-third of members live off-reserve in places such as Lethbridge, Calgary, Cardston and Fort Macleod.
Additionally, at the same time as the Blood Tribe’s COVID -19 cases were rising, Alberta began easing its restrictions. Some members played on golf courses and came back positive.
“It caused a bit of a scare in the community,” he said, but added many contact traces came back negative.
Covid-19-positive members are being quarantined in a hotel in nearby Cardston. A community hall gymnasium is being used to house members experiencing homelessness, and the nation’s treatment centre is aiding elders who need to self-isolate, Tailfeathers said.
Testing has been done for members off-reserve in nearby cities and on-reserve through a mobile testing site, which was used during the opioid crisis.
Tailfeathers said numbers seem to be improving but they aren’t letting down their guard.
“Every day, I wake up wondering how we’ll do today,” he said.
The Blood Tribe is reminding people to maintain physical distancing and limit contact with people from outside of their home. They are also urging members to not share personal items, to stay home when possible and follow all other public health recommendations. Increased sanitization measures are in place.
Currently, a curfew is in place between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., and local stores on the Blood reserve are directed to close at 8 p.m. Travel restrictions are also being observed.
When you’re on the nation, you can only control so much but a lot of it is just awareness.