"Six Nations woman honoured for dedication to health services"

Meeting MPs in Ottawa was a highlight capping years of working in the health services for Six Nations member Ruby Jacobs. She and the other recipients of the 2013 Indspire Awards (formerly known as the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation) received a standing ovation from the members of parliament when the award recipients were presented in October.

"I was really honoured to get that," said Ruby. She described the visit to the House of Commons and the following reception and dinner at the parliament building as "a really nice day and evening." In a manner typical of the hard-working woman, Jacobs said she was "honoured to accept on behalf of all health services because we all worked very hard to de­velop what we have now in the community."

Jacobs retired from her full-time job as Director of Six Nations Health Services in 2007 after serving in the position for 13 years. Instead of sitting back and perhaps enjoying some well-deserved down-time, Jacobs works for Accreditation Canada, conducting "accreditations for Aboriginal health service organizations," something she has been doing since 1999, but said "this is my last year."

"By doing that, really you're measuring your ser­vices against national standards," Ruby explained. Accreditation Canada is an independent body.

Ruby said she's been all over Canada conducting accreditations, but her most memorable one was "ours, of course," referring to Six Nations. "We've been through that three times, well four times - they just had another one in June. While I was there, we did two and we were into the third one when I retired."

"For a community to put themselves under that scrutiny and undergo that process, it's really challenging," said Ruby. "But the capacity building and the understanding that it creates, it's tremendous for the community because you understand quality service for your people."

Accreditation is an ongoing "continuous process," said Ruby, "because your goals and objectives change each year." While undergoing accreditation is challenging, "you can be sure that organization has been evaluated in all aspects of governance and service delivery and so forth, and you know they're delivering services equal to that of anyone else in Canada."

Every community has challenges in the provision of health care. "Ours is in numbers as opposed to geography," said Jacobs. "Every person deserves care that's there to keep you healthy, care that's there when you're sick and care that's sustaina­ble... every community is trying to work towards that." But because of the size of the population at Six Nations, "you have to really think about how you're going to meet the needs of the people."

She said undertaking processes such as accreditation and standards of practice help with planning how to provide programs and services that meet the needs of your people. The challenge for Six Nations is to meet the needs of the people with quality services, Ruby said.

"Every person in our community deserves service. It doesn't matter who they are or what they've done or anything like that. They deserve the service and it should be there for them, and it's up to those that provide it to make sure that it is. So this is one way to ensure quality," Ruby said of the accreditation process.

While thrilled with how Six Nations has worked to address health care issues, Jacobs said the community still faces challenges, needing "more health providers that are trained for various aspects of health care. Like, we don't have any community trained dieticians," she pointed out. "It's a challenge to train enough paramedics, to train enough doctors, to train enough nurses so you're not put in a risk situation when you're trying to deliver service."

Ruby remembers when Six Nations did not have ready access to treated water, and said progress on providing safe drinking water is "amazing." She graduated in 1965, and recalls "there wasn't even any running water at that point."

Today, Six Nations not only has a new water treatment plant under construction, it also has a dialysis unit, which operates with water from the existing treatment plant, although the water is further treated before use in dialysis. "The capacity in handling it [water] is amazing," commented Ruby. "Having the dialysis satellite here is amazing. It took a long time to get it."

Her first year after graduation was spent as a staff nurse at Hamilton's St. Joseph's intensive care, but Six Nations needed health professionals. "I always loved my community, so I came home."

Being single at the time, she was encouraged to study public health in university, and she did, attending the University of Ottawa. After she was exposed to administration, she learned "I liked it better and I moved into that."

With her new degree in hand, she worked a stint at the former Six Nations Lady Willingdon Hospital, then went to Moose Factory. "At St. Joseph's, you had so much support, but up there [in Moose Factory] you really had to problem solve. It was a real eye-opener." Ruby said she learned a lot working up north.

The next step for Ruby was teaching at Brant General. "In the meantime, I finished my sociology degree," she said. "I knew they'd close the Brantford campus." Jacobs calls herself a lifelong learner, also completing her nursing degree at McMaster in 2005. "I always had it in my head I had to get my nursing degree," she explained.

When the job of Six Nations Health Services director opened up, Ruby applied. "Our community is as big as Paris," she said. "We need to have services, so I applied for the manager job."

At the helm of health services, Ruby's strategy for strengthening existing services and expanding on offerings was simple and effective. "I picked the ten outstanding health problems and worked out programming. One of the big ones was the opportunity to get the birthing centre. I could see how it would help our community. Then we got an ambulance... each thing rolled into the other. I think there's about 21 programs [now]," she said.

Along the way, Ruby married and had two children. Looking back, she said, "I wouldn't change a thing."

These days, Ruby sits on the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant LHIN Board of Directors, a position she was appointed to by the Province of Ontario. The regional LHIN plans, funds and integrates the local health system.

Ruby also works as treasurer for the Six Nations Farmer's Association, and volunteers with the Six Nations Health Foundation. However, twin granddaughters have now captured Ruby's heart, and she spends as much time as she can with the girls who are two years old.

The Indspire award is a fitting bookend to the recognition Jacobs has received this year for her work with Six Nations Health Services. Earlier this year, she was honoured as a Community Treasure for that same work by Six Nations Elected Council.

The 20th annual showcase of Indspire recipients will take place on February 15 in Saskatoon, which is a nationally televised event.

Ruby plans on being there.

Every year Indspire honours 14 people, both professionals and youth, who demonstrate outstanding achievements.