First Nations doctor explores traditional medicine
Medicine Woman, a new 13-part series the premiered on VisionTV in September, follows Dr Daniele Behn Smith on a journey around the world to meet the shamans, herbalists, mystics, and others who preserve the centuries-old traditions and practices of natural healing. The series airs on Mondays at 7 p.m. and repeats on Saturdays at 5 p.m.
Dr Behn Smith is a First Nations woman just starting her career as a rural family physician. Though well versed in contemporary medicine, she believes that incorporating aspects of traditional healing into her practice will help her to deliver better care—especially to Aboriginal patients.
Her voyage takes her from New Zealand to the fringes of the Arctic Circle, to the lush jungles of South America, to the rolling green hills of Wales, to the arid deserts of southern Africa, and to her ancestral home, the Dene Reservation in Fort Nelson, BC.