Gateway to the North

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september 2019

Rural care is focus for medical Rising Star Christine HINZMANN Gateway staff

C UNBC handout photo

Caitlin Brewett, a second-year student, is the Rising Star of the Northern Medical Program at UNBC for her extensive work in rural communities.

aitlin Blewett, a secondyear student in the university’s Northern Medical Program, is the recipient of the Rising Star of Health Service award which recognizes outstanding contributions made to health care in the north. Blewett, who grew up in Vancouver, moved to Haida Gwaii to take a three-month post graduate course and knew almost immediately it was the place she wanted to call home. As a public health masters graduate, Blewett stayed on the remote island for seven years developing programs focusing on child/youth mental health and substance use, wellness forums, and working with elders to improve quality of life for Indigenous communities while serving

on the Haida Gwaii Islands Wellness Society. “We talked specifically a lot around mental health services and what that could look like and also a lot about elder care – about aging in place and elder healthcare services and social services relevant and local to save families and the sick people from all of the hassle, which is not a strong enough word – of accessing health services off-island and that work was specifically for Haida Gwaii,” Blewett said, who has done extensive work in mainland rural communities as well. Blewett feels a strong connection to Haida Gwaii. “The people I met just threw open arms out to anything you wanted to do and anything you were interested in being a part of,” she said. — see ‘I HAVE, page 3


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