Case Report: A First Nation Man’s Journey with Severe Insulin Resistance Syndrome

Authors

  • David B. Miller, MD Vancouver Island Health Authority
  • Susan Schaefer, RN, CDE Vancouver Island Health Authority
  • Judith Atkin, RN, CDE Vancouver Island Health Authority

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58931/cdet.2023.1319

Abstract

James (a pseudonym) was born in the 1940s near Vancouver Island, British Columbia, to a Coast Salish family. His schooling was the imposed residential school system whereby Indigenous children were removed from their homes and communities and sent to schools in communities far away. His siblings attended various residential schools, so during his three years at such schools he saw them only in the summer time. His treatment during his schooling fostered a deep distrust of physicians and nurses. In addition he lost much of his native language and culture during this time. He graduated from Queen Elizabeth (High) School in North Surrey, British Columbia, where he was the only Indigenous student. James attended Vancouver Vocational School before returning to Vancouver Island to work as a band manager for his First Nation community. He married Mary (a pseudonym) and together they raised four children. Today he works as an Elder in Residence with post-secondary institutions on Vancouver Island.

Author Biographies

David B. Miller, MD, Vancouver Island Health Authority

Dr. David Miller did his clinical training at the University of Western Ontario and the University of British Columbia. He has been a consultant endocrinologist in Victoria BC since 1997, with a focus on diabetes of all types. He has been an active writer of diabetes and endocrinology guidelines provincially and nationally for two decades. He developed many of the interactive tools for the Diabetes Canada Clinical Practice Guidelines in 2013 and 2018. He is a Clinical Professor, Endocrinology, at UBC and University of Victoria and an Internal Medicine Physician Practice Enhancement Program assessor for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC.

Susan Schaefer, RN, CDE, Vancouver Island Health Authority

Sue Schaefer is a retired Certified Diabetes Educator who worked in a variety of settings through the course of her 34 year nursing career. Her last 15 years were spent working in First Nations communities on Southern Vancouver Island. Sue is best known for her work, “Sweet Success with Diabetes: Laugh and Learn with Mrs. Pudding.” Sue and her alter‑ego Mrs. Pudding have presented in over 100 towns and indigenous communities across Canada. Sue is the proud recipient of Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Award for her work in diabetes.

Judith Atkin, RN, CDE, Vancouver Island Health Authority

Judith Atkin is a white settler to Turtle Island (Canada), with a very colonial past from Sri Lanka, South Africa and England. Walking alongside Indigenous community members both as a home care nurse and as a diabetes educator for the past 20 odd years has given her insight into the resourcefulness and resilience of Indigenous peoples as they negotiate the societal and health challenges of the results of residential school, racism and past and on-going colonialism. It is her honour and privilege to live and work amongst families of the Coast Salish and Nuu Chah Nulth Nations on their unceded lands of southern Vancouver Island.

References

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Published

2023-10-12

How to Cite

Miller, D. B., Schaefer, S., & Atkin, J. (2023). Case Report: A First Nation Man’s Journey with Severe Insulin Resistance Syndrome. Canadian Diabetes & Endocrinology Today, 1(3), 28–31. https://doi.org/10.58931/cdet.2023.1319

Issue

Volume 1, Issue 3, October 2023

Section

Articles

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