{"id":48291,"date":"2019-06-20T12:12:19","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T16:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/?p=48291"},"modified":"2020-09-22T16:19:38","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T20:19:38","slug":"smudge-procedure-gives-comfort-to-indigenous-patients-and-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/healthy-tomorrows\/smudge-procedure-gives-comfort-to-indigenous-patients-and-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Smudge procedure gives comfort to Indigenous patients and families"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Smudging is often used when someone is born, or someone dies, or during a crisis. It might also be part of a patient\u2019s everyday spiritual practices. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many patients and families, spiritual\npractices can help manage the stress of time spent in hospital. For First\nNations and M\u00e9tis patients and families, these practices might include smudging\nceremonies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ottawa Hospital now has a procedure in\nplace to be able to respond to requests from patients and families for smudging\nceremonies.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smudging is a traditional practice that is part of some, but not all, Indigenous cultures in Canada, and is practiced differently by different communities. Patients might request a smudging ceremony at any time, for a wide variety of reasons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\u201cWhen she learned she would be able to smudge in the hospital even though she couldn\u2019t leave her room, there was a sense of relief.\u201d <\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Karen Lawrence, Clinical Manager on 6East,\nrequested a smudging ceremony for a patient not long after the standard\noperating procedure was approved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSmudging was part of the patient\u2019s normal\npractice. When she learned she would be able to smudge in the hospital even though\nshe couldn\u2019t leave her room, there was a sense of relief,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smudging is often used when someone is born, or someone dies, or\nduring a crisis. It might also be part of a patient\u2019s everyday spiritual\npractices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a smudging ceremony, people\ngenerally burn traditional, medicinal plants and waft the smoke over parts of\nthe body as a spiritually cleansing ritual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patients can smudge in three different\ntypes of spaces at the hospital: outside the hospital building, in a designated\nindoor smudging area, or if the patient can\u2019t be moved to a designated indoor\nsmudging area, a smudge can be arranged for inpatient rooms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Requesting a smudge was easy and seamless,\nsaid Lawrence: \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of support to help you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The standard operating procedure for\nsmudging includes safety requirements so that smoke and scent from the smudge doesn\u2019t\ntravel through the hospital and affect other patients, families, or staff\nmembers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor many of our Indigenous patients, being able to smudge while\nin hospital is an important part of their spiritual wellbeing,\u201d said Gwen\nBarton, Manager of the First Nations, Inuit and Metis Cancer Program. \u201cAs\nhealth-care providers, it\u2019s our responsibility to do what we can to create a\nculturally safe and respectful environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To request a smudging ceremony, please talk to your health-care\nteam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many patients and families, spiritual practices can help manage the stress of time spent in hospital. For First Nations and M\u00e9tis patients and families, these practices might include smudging ceremonies. The Ottawa Hospital now has a procedure in place to be able to respond to requests from patients and families for smudging ceremonies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":48292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[424,374],"class_list":["post-48291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-tomorrows","tag-indigenous-health","tag-wellness"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}