Shooting the video, “Culture is Good Medicine”

The day I flew to Halifax to shoot our video on Aboriginal maternal and child health, Hurricane Irene was blasting up the eastern seaboard. Was this project going to be cancelled by Mother Nature? Happily, my flight suffered nothing worse than heavy rain and winds.

After landing, Halifax cameraman/editor, Duncan Moss and I split a soggy five-hour drive to Cape Breton Island. The next morning, bright and sunny, we interviewed Charlotte Jesty, Coordinator of the Unama'ki Maternal & Child Health Program in the town of Eskasoni. Charlotte expressed great pride in their initiative across the island - a program which combines western medicine and practices and the Mi’kmaq culture.

Afterward, along with her colleagues at the Eskasoni Community Health Centre, we shared some truly Canadian culture – pizza! Next, we met the stars of our video, Charlotte Christmas and her fifteen-month old daughter, Elizabeth. Charlotte gave us perspective on how the program helps moms like her be better parents and keep the Mi’kmaq language alive for future generations.

What remained was to shoot “B-reel” - general footage of Eskasoni. But it wasn’t until we returned to our hotel that our hosts gave us the idea for our opening shot – a beautiful Cape Breton sunrise. So, the next morning at 5 a.m., Duncan and I set up for a time-lapse sequence of the day’s beginning. Once we got the shot, it was back to Halifax where we put it all together in the editing suite.

After weeks of rewrites and organization, that final part of the creative process had a special sweetness. I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed producing it.

You can watch the video on our youtube channel.

Terry Glecoff, Media Specialist, Health Council of Canada

Our cameraman and editor, Duncan Moss, hard at work on the video 

Duncan shooting Charlotte Christmas and her daughter Elizabeth