First Nations COVID-19 Pandemic Response: Harnessing the evidence from an urban First Nations health ecosystem to inform ongoing response, recovery and health system adaptation

Bringing together skilled First Nations researchers with policy, planning and service delivery expertise, this study will investigate and capture critical learnings gained during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Specifically, learnings will be drawn from a large urban community-controlled health “ecosystem” - the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health. 

Focused on First Nations-led responses to COVID-19 in an urban context, this study will use primarily qualitative research methods to explore the following research aims:

• To identify how an Indigenous-led approach compares and contrasts with mainstream and international First Nation responses and outcomes
• To prepare a strategy for, and undertake if circumstances determine, the documentation of the first few cases should an outbreak occur in SEQ among urban Indigenous peoples;
• Use case studies to investigate key aspects of service planning, response and reorientation, and community activation achieved during the current pandemic
• Identify strengths and gaps of the overall pandemic response within a large, urban regional CCHS network, using systems thinking methods.

This study will deliver an in-depth understanding of the critical success factors, any exigent challenges and key learnings from a large urban Indigenous health ecosystem pandemic response. It will have relevance for this and future pandemics as well as more broadly, for health system (both Indigenous-specific and mainstream) understanding, development and improvement;

The study will also provide practical tools and resources for dissemination, adaptation and adoption, as well as advancing individual and collective First Nations research knowledge, skills and career development.

Funding

Paul Ramsay Foundation through the APPRISE CRE Collaboration ($169,000).