Outcomes from a collaborative project developing and evaluating a community rehabilitation worker program for...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Indigenous Health
• Gerontology

Background:

• Significant health and healthcare access inequities exist for Indigenous seniors in Ontario compared to non-Indigenous seniors.
• First Nations elders experience higher frailty rates and face barriers to culturally appropriate, language-specific rehabilitation services in their communities.
• Community-based rehabilitation assistant models have shown success in addressing similar access challenges in other regions.

Conclusions:

• The developed Community Rehabilitation Worker (CRW) program successfully launched its first cohort in March 2022, incorporating local culture, language, and elder reintegration.
• The project team advocates for dedicated provincial and federal funding to address resource inequities for First Nations elders in both urban and remote communities.
• The CRW program model, developed through participatory approaches, can serve as a resource for similar initiatives in rural and remote communities globally.