Pasqua First Nation invokes emergency plans
Colour-coded signage, security checkpoints and bulk orders.
The Pasqua First Nation is pulling out as many stops as possible to prepare for COVID-19.
Chief Matthew Peigan (also known to many as Todd Peigan) says he and others on the Fort Qu’appelle-area First Nation have been working on getting their community ready ever since the first cases started popping up elsewhere in the country.
That meant they had supplies — such as food, cleaning products, medical items, personal safety equipment like face shields and gowns and, yes, even toilet paper — on hand before others in the province fully realized the global pandemic was about to hit.
“It’s something we never expected, but it’s something we have to deal with and we’ve got to try to deal with it the best way we can,” he says.
The First Nation has since put in other measures, including checkpoints at its entrances and the use of signage intended to allow self-isolating or quarantined individuals to let others know if they need help.
Peigan says the First Nation had an emergency response plan in place for H1N1, largely thanks to then-emergency management co-ordinator Cindy Desnomie. When COVID-19 started to hit Canada, all the reserve had to do initially was pull out that plan.
“We have to prepare for the worst,” he says. “We don’t want to be scrambling around.”
He says he and his council discussed it early on, realizing their people would be coming to them for answers. They wanted to be able to provide answers along with as much aid as they could.
Among initiatives in place are a number of signs to be posted in homes, some identifying when there is someone inside with complex medical needs — crucial to know should someone need to access the residence.
“We have to be cautious and be careful in homes we go into, because people may have weakened immune systems, diabetes, heart problems that are more susceptible to this virus,” Peigan says.
The reserve has also created a series of colour-coded papers that act as messaging from self-isolated residents to security staff or fellow community members. Blue means water is needed, yellow indicates food, red means the person is sick and green means either that a single person living alone or a single parent with children needs help. The papers are to be placed in a visible location like a door or window.
The First Nation has also started monitoring comings and goings from the reserve, setting up security checkpoints at entrance points to try to further protect the community.
“People have to check in when they’re leaving the First Nation,” Peigan says. “They have to disclose where they’re going and when they’re going to be back so we know there’s no socializing.”
He adds they have also obtained schedules for those working off-reserve so they know they’re going straight to work then back home.
“It comes down to assuring the safety of everybody,” he says.
Peigan says he is pleased with the work that’s already been done to guard against COVID-19, but adds he would very much like access to between 800 and 1,000 test kits to enable him to test his approximately 800 members and others who might want to return. If it turns out everyone is healthy, the First Nation would consider locking down for a while.
“Then I could turn around and start opening my school, get the kids back into classes,” he says.