Do Her No Harm - Episode 4 - Santanna

H.E.A.L. Healthcare

Do Her No Harm – Stories of Health Inequity and Dehumanization Experienced by cis-Women in the Canadian Healthcare System

Episode 4 - Santanna Hernandez: Intersectionality and How We Can Be Agents for System Change

In this episode, Dr. Santanna Hernandez shares her story of navigating the Canadian Healthcare System as an Indigenous Woman, highlighting the complexity of intersectionality in the healthcare environment. Shifting from solely a healthcare “user” to now a healthcare provider, Santanna gives her two cents on the realities of sexism, misogyny and dehumanization in healthcare, and how healthcare practitioners themselves are not immune to these adverse experiences. Sharing some of the amazing work being pioneered from within the system, Santanna brings optimism for the battle against sexism, misogyny and dehumanization in the HCS.

Santanna's Reflective Questions:

1. If there is one thing you wish future practitioners were taught to help them provide better care for you as a patient?
2. What research do you feel is missing in regards to women’s health?
3. What is your gift, strengths and how can you build them up and how can you use/apply them to the work you are doing?

Dr. Santanna Hernandez is Dene, from the Liidlii Kue Nation and Cold Lake First Nation on her father’s side and Dutch on her maternal side. She was raised on the traditional territory of the Sto:lo Nation and spent many years as a guest on the unceded territory of the Sinixt (Lakes), Syilx (Okanagan), Ktunaxa and Secwepemc (Shuswap) nations, whom she honours for the many traditions and gifts they shared with her. Dr. Hernandez is a mother of four children and a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, and she is working on her own healing journey from post-generational trauma and ongoing systemic racism.

She recently completed her medical education at the University of Calgary and will be continuing her training in southern Alberta in rural family medicine. She served as the first Indigenous president of the Canadian Federation of Medical Students as well as a variety of other leadership roles Nationally, Provincially and locally. She served as co-chair on the ii'taa'poh'to'p student advisory circle at the University of Calgary and is continually working on research and initiatives to support Indigenous students, patients and practitioners.

This podcast series is part of the H.E.A.L. Healthcare project.

The Hearts-based Education and Anti-colonial Learning Project brings together artists, writers, activists, and people with lived experience to create arts-based anti-oppression learning materials for healthcare educators, professionals, and practitioners wanting to address biases and ‘-isms’ that permeate healthcare systems and culture. The learning modules provided on this site address the longstanding and well-established health disparities exist because of racist, colonial, able-body/minded, geographic, economic, and gendered inequities.
For more learning opportunities, visit healhealthcare.ca