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Virtual Health Hub is a first in Canada, Remote Presence Technology initiative providing a template for improved rural and remote health outcomes on a global scale. Jointly supported by the Government of Canada ($21M) and the Government of Saskatchewan ($12M), this Indigenous-led healthcare delivery project is designed to increase the availability of healthcare diagnostic services to Saskatchewan’s northern, rural and remote communities.

As the post-secondary training partner, the SIIT has created a new applied certificate program to quickly train community members to deploy and support these outcomes. Virtual Health Hub Assistant is foundational in the success of the Virtual Health Hub. The training provides students with base level knowledge of the healthcare system and functionality, medical terminology, anatomy, remote medical diagnostic imagining technologies and other diverse virtual healthcare technologies.

The VHHA applied certificate has been developed in consultation with community healthcare professionals, leadership and knowledge keepers. Like all SIIT programs, the VHHA is routed in Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing with an emphasis on First Nation languages and cultures. A VHHA will be the community champion for Virtual Health Care effectiveness and efficiency as well as providing comfortability and support to the health care system.

SIIT has partnered with well-established academic and neurosurgeon Dr. Ivar Mendez to support his concept of the Virtual Health Hub. This partnership was strengthened with the support of the Whitecap Dakota First Nation under the leadership of Chief Darcy Bear. As Dr. Mendez and his team continue to develop the Virtual Health Hub, Whitecap Dakota First Nation is constructing the VHH’s permanent deployment hub at WDFN, while SIIT is developing and delivering the VHHA training.

We believe that together these 3 organizations are effecting groundbreaking change in relation to healthcare roles, accessibility to education and addressing Indigenous health care priorities. The VHHA program at SIIT is connecting communities together to provide lifesaving virtual care options & access to services in home communities. Graduates will be a vital part of the solution to the healthcare crisis.

This unique partnership’s success is an example of active reconciliation through empowering Indigenous communities to seek healthcare solutions, accessibility to education & effecting change for future generations.