Bringing aboriginal culture to Western medicine
ANDREA HILL After two years attending the University of Toronto’s doctor of pharmacy program, Jaris Swidrovich fell in love with the big city.
Upon receiving his degree, however, the 28-yearold Saskatoon native, who hails from Yellow Quill First Nation, returned home.
“I would go back to Toronto in a heartbeat, but I know I wouldn’t have the same face-time with the aboriginal community as I do here. And I know that’s my calling,” Swidrovich said from the spiritual care room on the fifth floor of St. Paul’s Hospital, where he works as a clinical pharmacist.
Swidrovich, who graduated from the U of T program in the spring of 2013, is the first aboriginal Canadian to achieve a doctor of pharmacy degree. It’s a source of great pride for himself, his family and his band.
“I’m kind of the next generation out of a whole history of unfortunate events,” Swidrovich said.
Jaris Swidrovich
He explained that his grandmother and great-grandmother endured time in residential schools and his mother was taken from her family and placed in non-aboriginal foster homes.
“It makes me very proud to know that my family went from where we were to what we’re seeing today,” he said.
When Swidrovich started his post-secondary journey at the University of Saskatchewan almost a decade ago, he said he was “disconnected” from his aboriginal heritage. That changed when he and his older sister volunteered at the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards — now the Indspire Awards — in Saskatoon.
“That was really the first time that I took note of my culture and my background; I couldn’t believe how natural it felt participating in that event, everything from our pipe ceremonies to the round dances and any other traditional event that was part of that awards ceremony,” Swidrovich said.
“I had this chemical reaction inside and I knew that was me. After then, I really started to ramp up my involvement in aboriginal culture and organizations because I felt that being right.”
Upon graduating from the U of S bachelor of science in pharmacy program, Swidrovich worked with the Lung Association of Saskatchewan to develop teaching materials for kids about traditional use of tobacco and taught health care workers on and off Saskatchewan reserves about aboriginal tobacco use. The work was important to him because he’d seen first-hand how little some people knew about aboriginal culture, he said.
He recalled how his classmates laughed when a guest lecturer said it was common practice for people to give tobacco as a gift to aboriginal elders. “I felt the need to put up my hand and address the fact that tobacco is actually one of four sacred medicines in aboriginal cultures and it doesn’t mean you’re offering them a cigarette to smoke,” Swidrovich said.
At the U of T, Swidrovich continued to stay connected to his aboriginal ancestry and arranged to do one of his rotations at Ile-ala-Crosse, about 500 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.
“It was very eye-opening. … I absolutely took note of how much the aboriginal and northern community could benefit from some clinical pharmacist services,” he said, noting that most people coming into the health clinic had never sat down with someone to discuss their medications.
Swidrovich said he likes to tap into First Nations culture when explaining Western medicine, and this helps encourage some of his aboriginal patients to comply with taking medications. He grabs his lanyard and points to the medicine wheel pin he wears every day at work, which represents the four dimensions of health: physical, emotional, spiritual and mental.
“Even if it works as nothing else than just a visual to people, First Nations people know what this is, and it’s usually a nice sign to show that I know about this and I care about this,” Swidrovich said.
At St. Paul’s, Swidrovich said he spends his clinical hours working with patients with HIV, AIDs and addictions, 80 per cent of whom self-identify as aboriginal.
In the evenings and in his downtime, he works with numerous committees and organizations, including the City of Saskatoon’s cultural diversity and race relations committee and the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists. He has travelled to Yellow Quill to speak at the band’s reserve day and gives presentations about aboriginal history and the need for cultural sensitivity in the health care system.
Most recently, he’s helped found a medication assessment clinic that runs out of the Westside Clinic one evening a week. This provides an opportunity for people to sit down with a pharmacist and talk about their medications. Swidrovich said a large number of people using the clinic — now in its third week — are aboriginal.
“This program is really opening up the opportunity for comprehensive pharmacy services for First Nations patients and also bringing it physically closer to many First Nations patients too, by coming right to 20th Street,” he said. “I think it’s quite exciting.”