The Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre's (SOAHAC) purpose is to improve access to, and the quality of, health services for First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in the spirit of partnership, mutual respect and sharing.
As an Aboriginal Health Access Centres (AHAC), they provide innovative, Indigenous-informed health care to First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities in southwestern Ontario from Windsor to Waterloo Wellington and north to Owen Sound.
They do this through a combination of health and social services:
- Traditional healing
- Primary health care
- Health promotion services
- Cultural programs
- Community development initiatives
- Social support services
SOAHAC is part of a group of AHACs that were first announced in Ontario in 1995 in response to epidemic, systemic health disparities and inequities within the Aboriginal (now Indigenous) population across Ontario. AHACs operate from a wholistic Indigenous health framework which is often referred to by Indigenous people as “the good life” or as restoring the “good mind.” The framework focuses on the restoration and rebalancing of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of Indigenous people, families, communities and Nations, and understands “culture as treatment.”
SOAHAC has several locations in the South West Region including: SOAHAC – Chippewa of the Thames, London, Waterloo Wellington, Owen Sound and Newburry.
Primary Care services provided include Diabetes Education, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Services, Indigenous Midwifery & Women’s Health Promotion, Palliative Care, Pharmacy, Family Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Registered Practical Nurses and Registered Nurses and other health professionals who provide specific services such as Chiropody, physiotherapy, Nutrition, and Harm reductions.
SOAHAC has Patient Navigators that provide support to their clients in hospitals.
