How this team is transforming health care for African Nova Scotian women

After years of feeling dismissed by the health-care system, Kate MacKinnon says she’s finally been able to access the treatment she deserves. 

For almost a year, she’s been a patient of the Nova Scotia Sisterhood, a team of all-Black female health-care providers dedicated to offering culturally sensitive care.

The program serves African Nova Scotian and Black women and gender-diverse individuals 19 and older — with or without a family doctor — in the province's central health zone.

“This is more than just a doctor’s office,” MacKinnon said in a recent interview with CBC News. “I feel validated and seen, probably for the first time in my life.” 

The Sisterhood officially launched in 2023, inspired by the success of its counterpart, the Nova Scotia Brotherhood. It’s supported by research and advocacy from the Health Association of African Canadians.

In July, the team moved into its new clinic on Wyse Road in Dartmouth, where staff perform a broad range of services — from Pap tests, blood pressure checks and chronic disease management to clinical therapy and nutrition counselling. 

Delivered through the Nova Scotia Health Authority, the program aims to break down systemic barriers that Black women often face when navigating the health-care system, according to Natalie Johnson, the program’s team lead and registered dietitian.

“They’re able to come here and let some of those walls down, [be] able to open up about things that they may not be able to open up with a health-care provider who doesn’t get their experience as a Black woman,” she said. 

MacKinnon said she’s working on healing both physically and psychologically from experiences of racism and discrimination she’s endured throughout her life. But within the traditional health-care system, she said clinicians rarely acknowledged how those experiences affected her overall health. 

Tykora Brinton, the family practice nurse who handles all new patient intakes, says the health-care system is “stretched to its limits,” leaving many family doctors only 15 minutes to see each patient.

At the Sisterhood, initial appointments last an hour, with 30-minute followups. 

“You have time to relax and talk about those things and not feel like you have to just come in, say your stuff and get out,” she said. “We’re here to listen to you.” 

Nurse practitioner Kiersten Boyle said she’s had more than 1,000 office visits since May, with many of her patients behind on their routine screenings, like Pap tests for cervical cancer. 

“Some of them haven’t seen providers in 10 or 15 years so they have a long list of things we need to address,” said Boyle.