“My main focus is to help build connections between BCEHS – whether it be managers, directors or crews on the ground – and the Indigenous communities they cover, trying to bring everyone together and build trust,” says Amber Lochbaum, an Indigenous Cultural Advisor at BC Emergency Health Services.
Amber is one of five Indigenous Cultural Advisors at BCEHS doing the challenging and vital work of forging new and better relationships between the organization and the many Indigenous communities they serve. We spoke to Amber about her work and the unique role Indigenous Cultural Advisors play in emergency services.
Amber has a Bachelor of Science and originally planned to be veterinarian, but decided while she was still in school that that wasn’t the path for her. In her final semester, she was trying to figure out what to do after graduation. Her father’s friend from work was married to a BCEHS manager and suggested that Amber look into working for the ambulance service.
After working for in the Vancouver Dispatch Operations Centre for six years, Amber moved to the Patient Transport Coordination Centre two years ago, dispatching air ambulance planes and helicopters with paramedic flight care teams.
In February 2024, Amber took on a new role as an Indigenous Cultural Advisor for the Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health regions. As with many Indigenous people, Amber’s relationship to her Nation and culture has been impacted by ongoing legacies of colonialism.
“My grandmother went to residential schools and in that way, she was very timid and quiet, and she never passed on any teachings or cultural traditions to her children,” Amber says.
According to the legislation in the Indian Act that was in place at the time, the children of Indigenous women and non-Indigenous men were not eligible to have Indigenous status in the eyes of the Canadian government. As a result, even though Amber’s mother grew up near the Mosakahiken Cree Nation that her family is a part of, she didn’t get her status card until she was 22.
“Growing up, I knew my mom had a status card. I knew she was Indigenous, but we didn’t really explore any of that together,” Amber says.
Amber was able to get legal Indigenous status when she was 16 after an amendment to the Indian Act known as Bill C-31 ended the provision that Indigenous women lost their status upon marrying non-Indigenous men.
“That was when everything sparked for me and I started learning more,” she says. “I’ve lived in B.C. my entire life and I’ve picked up Coast Salish teachings and traditions and cultures. Then slowly, I’ve started picking up a bit of the language from my nation in Moose Lake Manitoba, but it really has been a learning journey.”
As detailed in the
In Plain Sight report, Indigenous-specific racism is an ongoing reality in B.C.’s health-care system that continues to cause harm and prevent First Nations, Inuit and Métis people from receiving equitable access to care. To help Indigenous people receive culturally safe health care, many hospitals and health-care services in B.C. have introduced Indigenous Patient Navigators, who provide direct support to patients and their families receiving, including access to Elders, traditional ceremonies and traditional healing practices.
At BC Emergency Health Services, Amber and her colleagues used to also be known as Indigenous Patient Navigators however, earlier this year, their title was changed to Indigenous Cultural Advisor to better reflect the nature of the work they do. Although Amber and her colleagues do work directly with patients, this often isn’t possible due to the nature of emergency medical care. Their role is broader and involves both sharing information with staff and building relationships between Indigenous communities and BCEHS.
“Teaching is a big part of what I do day-to-day,” Amber says. She facilitates training sessions on various topics including cultural safety and Indigenous language, knowledge systems, and cultural practices.
“Most recently, I did a presentation to all the managers in my region. I explained smudging or cleansing ceremonies and outlined the difference you’ll see in Coast Salish people’s ceremonial practices, compared those done in the North,” she says. “We went over how you would do it and why it’s done, and then we took them out and did a ceremony together.”
Teaching BCEHS frontline staff and leaders about Indigenous cultural practices helps ensure paramedics understand and support these traditions when they encounter them while providing care.
“If crews are at a family’s house, now they’ll be able to understand what they’re doing and why,” Amber says. “If a family member is being taken out of a community, our crews can help ensure that they’re able to bring traditional medicine within them, and when they arrive at the hospital, paramedics can tell staff there that this is traditional medicine and is not to be thrown away.”
Amber’s favorite part of the job is going out and visiting the Indigenous communities in the regions she serves and working to build closer, more trusting relationships between BCEHS and Indigenous communities.
She recently accompanied a BCEHS manager on a visit to the Tsawwassen and Semiahmoo First Nations.
“We thought it was going to be a quick hand off of a business card and a hello, but we ended up staying at each Nation for over an hour,” she says. “They talked to us and showed us what was going on and how we could help, and we got invited to so many things just because showed up and explained why we wanted to be there.”
The BCEHS Indigenous Health team encourages crews to go out into communities when there isn’t an emergency, to talk to elders, make themselves familiar, and to show that BCEHS is here for their community and will respond. If any crews want to make connections with their local Indigenous communities, they can reach out to anyone on the Indigenous Health team for knowledge on how to stop by and say hello to introduce themselves.
Part of Amber’s role also involves supporting Indigenous patients who have had negative experiences with BCEHS staff or staff in other parts of the health-care system.
“Reviewing the truths about Indigenous people and their hardships has been really difficult,” she says.
Amber and her colleagues draw on Indigenous culture to help support patients in healing from these experiences and to give BCEHS staff and others involved in their care an opportunity for self-reflection and accountability. At the end of a complaint file, Amber may offer patients the opportunity to have Elder support or participate in a sharing circle or healing circle.
In both sharing circles and healing circles, each participant has an opportunity to speak and share their truth. While sharing circles may aim towards developing a solution, healing circles take a more trauma-informed approach and are meant to apologize and rebuild relationships.
“We’re able to bring in Elder support or do a healing circle where the patient can talk to the crew that has impacted them, and then they can start a healing journey together, which has been really amazing,” Amber says.
