Cultural Room a key part of the new Urgent Care Centre in Regina

When Regina’s new Urgent Care Centre opens to the public on July 2, patients and families will have access to a space for cultural and spiritual ceremonies.

For the Indigenous community, the room is perfect for smudging.

“This room was built to be able to safely and effectively smudge without setting off any of the alarms or sprinkler systems,” said Thomas Stewart, executive director of integrated Regina Health for the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

“So you’ll see up there is our special filtration systems. There’s a frying pan with some things for actually doing smudging. We did have an opportunity to test it and it works well.”

Smudging supplies in the Cultural/Spiritual Room at the Urgent Care Centre. (Nicole Garn/980 CJME)

The urgent care centre model offers an alternative for after-hours health care and aims to divert up to 20,000 patients a year away from Regina’s emergency departments. The facility also has specific staff to help the Indigenous community.

“One of the unique features is we have a First Nations-Métis client navigator that will be on-site as well seven days a week,” Stewart said.

Elder Brenda Dubois offered a blessing to the new building on Thursday.

“We’re all trying our best to be good humans in the midst of continuing to get better to help citizens in our community,” she said.

“That’s what this is all about. It’s about learning how to respond to urgent care in a different way and emergent care in a different way.”

She said it is important to have a community you can lean on in tough times.

“It’s about our wellness and knowing that we have a circle around us,” she said. “So when we have times of bitterness we can reach out to good colleagues and good friends to help us make it through to the next day.”

Health Minister Everett Hindley looks forward to more collaborations with the Indigenous community to make healthcare spaces more welcoming. (Nicole Garn/980 CJME)

Health Minister Everett Hindley echoes the importance of the Cultural Room.

“I think it’s critical to have that as part of this facility,” he said. “We know we have a significant First Nation population that accesses health care here in Regina and other communities across the province. It’s important to have that cultural space there for our First Nations patients and their families so they feel comfortable. It’s an integral part of what we’re doing here.”

He said this work will continue as the province looks to create a similar centre in Saskatoon.

“It’s actually in partnership with the Ahtahkakoop Cree Developments so there will be further engagement there,” he said.

The centre is set to open on July 2 and will operate in two phases.

In phase one, teams will operate seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Phase two begins in the fall and will accept patients 24/7, 365 days a year.