Digital Standardized Patients: Daanis LaFontaine

Daanis LaFontaine, 18, is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, an Ojibwe people. Assignments featuring Daanis and our other Native American characters were developed in partnership with Dr. Misty Wilkie, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and a nurse who grew up on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota.

Dr. Wilkie is a nurse educator who teaches at Bemidji State University and has now served as a consultant on three different products for Shadow Health. When developing Daanis, Dr. Wilkie and the development teams were able to exchange questions and ideas which resulted in whole, authentic, and accurate representations of these patients.

For example, Daanis’s name was chosen with special care and consideration. “Daanis” means “daughter” in the Ojibwe language. “LaFontaine” captures the Metis French influence on the Turtle Mountain people.

Daanis appeared first in the Maternal Health DCE. She is in labor with her son Zachary and her mother, Rebecca LaFontaine, is in the room with her. Students will learn about Daanis’s birth plan preferences and transcultural considerations such as allowing additional family members into the room, restricting and respecting considerations around touch, and honoring her request to take the placenta home.

The Shadow Health development team also partnered with a local artist from the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians to create the initial concept art for Daanis LaFontaine and her mother, Rebecca. For example, in the simulation, Rebecca is wearing a traditional ribbon skirt, a symbol of womanhood and pride among many Ojibwe communities.