Tseshaht Health Fair held at Maht Mahs | Ha-Shilth-Sa Newspaper

Tseshaht Health Fair held at Maht Mahs

By Eric Plummer /

Roxy Jones is Vancouver Island’s regional addictions specialist with the First Nations Health Authority. At the health fair she provided information about treatment options, harm reduction measures for illicit drug users and resources for medications prescribed for substance use. (Eric Plummer photos)

Port Alberni, BC

Representatives and specialists covering a variety of wellness issues are available at Maht Mahs for the Tseshaht Health Fair, a free event being held April 20-21, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

With booths set up in the large Tseshaht gym, topics covered include pedorthic foot care, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council’s COVID research project, diabetes, help breathing better for sleep, pharmacy services and approaches to self care.

Leah Wrigley, a mental health counsellor with Nuu-chah-nulth Child and Youth Services sits at the department’s information booth in Maht Mahs. Child and Youth Services serves Nuu-chah-nulth-aht aged 0-24, offering things like baby massages, child development services, therapeutic play, youth groups, clinical counselling and developmental assessments.
Matilda Atleo hosted a booth about the Can-SOLVE Canadian Kidney Disease Network. Through a partnership with FNHA, Can-SOLVE helps Indigenous people in remote communities check for their risk of kidney disease, as well as diabetes and blood pressure problems.
Heather Fenner, a tuberculosis clinical nurse educator with the First Nations Health Authority, offers information about the disease. A TB check is necessary if one has HIV/AIDS, diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, leukemia or lymphoma, according to the FNHA.

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