Judith Gohn Honoured for 20 Years Work in Cowichan Tribes
The First Nations Health Directors Association (FNHDA) held a special honouring ceremony for one of their esteemed members for years of dedicated work in her community and the positive influence she has had on many other Nations in BC and across the country. Cowichan Tribes’ Judith Gohn was celebrated on Coast Salish Territories in Vancouver in Fall 2012 during the FNHDA Annual General Meeting with kind words from her colleagues and a sacred dance ceremony by the Sts’ailes cultural committee.
Judith has spent over 20 years in the health field with 15 of them as a Health Director for Cowichan Tribes. Over the years she has contributed to many positive changes within the Nation and their health services, as well as facing the challenges that have come up head on with her community.
Gohn helped to build up the Ts’ewulhtun Health Centre from a small operation with less than 20 employees in 1992 to a larger operation with a staff of 80 that now handles public health and communicable disease control for Cowichan Tribes, and provides health education programs for more than 7,000 Aboriginal people in the region, of which 4,500 are Cowichan Tribes members. The Health Centre was officially Accredited in June 2012 and has now been elevated to Exemplary status as of December 2012, a feat Judith is very proud of.
“It’s great news for us. I want to express our appreciation to the community members, Cowichan Tribes staff, Health Advisory Committee members and Chief and Council for supporting us to reach our goal of becoming an officially Accredited health centre and now with Exemplary status,” said Gohn. “We all raise our hands to the community partners who met with the surveyors and described Cowichan Tribes and the Health Centre as a leader in the Cowichan Valley in the areas of community building and integrated health care delivery.”
Read the full post in the latest issue of Spirit magazine.
Read online here. (page 16)
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