More & more people in Canada and other parts of the world are opting for Alternative, Indigenous Traditional Remedies in the Treatment of Diabetes and other ailments

Diabetes Canada

Exploring Indigenous Traditional Healing in the treatment of Diabetes.

Diabetes continues to be a top health concern for Indigenous people in Canada and many are deciding to pair contemporary medical treatments with traditional healing methods

ERIN PETROW, SASKATOON STARPHOENIX

Updated: May 17, 2018

Traditional knowledge keeper Rick Favel delivers his keynote address during the 15th annual Indigenous Gathering on Diabetes at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon on May 16, 2018. (Erin Petrow/ Saskatoon StarPhoenix) SASKATOON

Diabetes continues to be a top health concern for Indigenous people in Canada and many are deciding to pair contemporary medical treatments with traditional healing methods.

Diabetes Canada hopes to underline this duel approach to healing during its 15th annual Indigenous Gathering on Diabetes.

Genetically, Indigenous people are at a much higher risk to develop diabetes during their lifetime, and environmental factors such as poverty and food accessibility amplifies the risk, said Brie Hnetka, Saskatchewan’s regional director for Diabetes Canada.

“Today, young people born on reserve have an 85 to 95 per cent chance of getting diabetes in their lifetime and women are at that 95 per cent — so this is a huge problem,” Hnetka said.

Although it’s possible to live well with diabetes, complications from the disease cause the most damage, so it’s important to start getting treatment as soon as possible — including traditional medicine, she added.

Elder and traditional knowledge keeper Rick Favel has directly experienced the benefits of traditional Indigenous healing methods. During his keynote address at the conference, he discussed his own experience with kidney failure and how holistic medicines helped improve his kidney function from one to two per cent back to near 100 per cent — even after a doctor told him he would never get off dialysis or see his kidney function above 30 per cent again.

Favel has been a driving force for the All Nations Healing Hospital’s medicine room, which is stocked with various branches, leaves, roots and more. It offers traditional medicines to people who seek them out for a variety of ailments.

The difference between contemporary medicine and traditional healing methods is that traditional medicine focuses not only on the body but also aims to heal “spiritually, emotionally and (mentally),” Favel said.

“We know that contemporary medicines really don’t help. People with diabetes eventually end up on dialysis and what we are trying to do is use these traditional plants to bring that sugar level down and level it off and then become physically healthy.”

epetrow@postmedia.com