About Us
By First Nations. For First Nations.
Formed in 2010, the FNHMA is a national association committed to the design and delivery of training, certification and professional development for individuals who play a role in providing health services to First Nations. Our rigorous certification program, leading to the Certified First Nations Health Manager (CFNHM) professional designation, focuses on balancing inherent ways of knowing with sound management principles. Through this careful and skilled balance, First Nations health managers are supporting their communities to be healthier and stronger. To survive, and to thrive.
Vision
We are the leaders expanding health management capacity for First Nations.
Mission
To provide leadership in health management activities by developing and promoting quality standards, practices, research, certification and professional development to expand capacity for members and First Nations.
Our Story
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Being a health manager for a First Nation community is very different from being a health manager anywhere else. First Nations health managers work at ground level. They are part of their community - and they answer to that community. Culture plays an integral role in every aspect of the health services they deliver.
So too do sound management practices. Leadership and governance, human resource management, financial management and accountability, quality improvement, planning…all these and more are the core competencies that form the basis of how First Nations health managers do their job each and every day.
It is through this careful and skilled balance of honouring and upholding inherent ways of knowing with ensuring adherence to sound management principles, that First Nations health managers are supporting their communities to be healthier and stronger. To survive…and to thrive.
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By First Nations for First Nations
Because traditional knowledge is fundamental to healthcare for First Nations Peoples, health managers working with First Nations need a First Nations written curriculum. By First Nations for First Nations.
And this is where our FNHMA story begins.
With a clear consensus that increasing capacity of First Nations Health Managers was key to improving First Nations health service delivery at the community level, the FNHMA was formed in 2010. Our mandate: is to design and deliver training, certification, and professional development to individuals who have a role in providing health services to First Nations.
Over 11 years later, FNHMA remains the only national, professional association exclusively serving the needs of individuals working for or aspiring to health management positions with First Nations organizations and communities. By offering a rigorous program leading to the Certified First Nations Health Manager (CFNHM) professional designation, we have helped to imbed a credible curriculum that is relevant, current and that applies directly to the health services that are being delivered in our communities.
But while FNHMA offers the curriculum, it is the health managers that bring the relevance and the real-life health experience and journeys.
It’s all about balance
Because what we do, how we do it, why we do it – it is always about balance. Real-life health experience and journeys balanced by management principles. A rigorous curriculum balanced by a supportive, caring and safe learning environment. Credibility balanced with humility. We learn together. We learn from each other. Across nations. The voices and wisdom of Health Managers who are the FNHMA family. Together, building a stronger health care system for the First Peoples of Turtle Island.
The Certified First Nations Health Manager designation is not an award that hangs on a wall. It is about community. It is about narrowing the gaps so true reconciliation can begin. It is about family.