Health Department
Advancing holistic wellness — physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual — for every member of Halfway River First Nation.
🏥 Community Clinic
On-reserve health services and coordination for medical appointments.
🚌 Transportation
15-passenger van and bus for member appointments, groceries, and community events.
🧠 Mental Health
Wellness programs for mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being of members.
🍎 Nutrition Programs
Diabetes workshops, meal planning, and healthy eating education for community members.
🌿 Community Health Overview
This past year has been a challenge for the Health Department. We are incredibly grateful for our staff, community members, and external stakeholders who helped our department in these challenging times. It is important that we all work together to foster a lively, healthy community. We currently have four staff members working in the health department.
During these times we saw people endure mental, physical, and emotional difficulties. Our health team provided programs and services that encouraged mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being of the Halfway River First Nation people.
🩺 Medical Access & Specialist Services
We were able to have a doctor come into the community for appointments with the members. Community members currently must make appointments and travel into Fort St. John or arrange phone appointments. Like other smaller Indigenous communities, there are significant concerns regarding chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.
We are working towards providing more in-community services, increasing awareness, and supporting members struggling with drug, alcohol, and solvent abuse — strengthening links between community-based programs and residential treatment centres. As we were able to have Occupational Therapists visit HRFN, we had them conduct in-home assessments, which resulted in medical equipment and wheelchairs being provided to members.
🚌 Transportation & Community Access
The health department coordinated weekly trips into Fort St. John and purchased a 15-passenger van and a bus to provide transportation for members to attend appointments, access fresh groceries, and take care of important health-related errands. The vehicles also help members attend pow wows, cultural events, and Elders’ gatherings. The purchase was a collaboration between health, industry, and other grants.
🥗 Wellness & Education Programs
We coordinated diabetes workshops and educated members on meal planning, food purchasing, healthy eating habits, and cooking. We started a weight loss challenge where participants attended Zoom workshops and came into the clinic for weekly weigh-ins.
We offered workshops — including Self-Esteem/Empowerment, Grief and Loss, Non-Violent Communication, and Drug and Alcohol Awareness — both in-person and online, though challenges remain with the stigma attached to these topics.
If you have questions about Halfway River First Nation’s Health services, please contact the Health Director at HRFN Health Clinic.
