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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2011)
Indian youth arts grant complete STCCF helps Native children attend play and festival in Idaho By Tiffany Stuart The Kamiah Community Partners Coalition (KCPC) completed the use of the $ 1,035 Native American Youth Educa tional Arts Program grant from the Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund. More than 200 American Indian youth benefited from this grant. Twenty Native American Scholarships to the Scrooge musical were given in December 2010 and 20 scholarships to the Beauty and the Beast performance were distributed in May 2011. Both of these performances were at the Lewiston Civic Theatre in Lewiston, Idaho. More than 150 American Indian youth benefited from YouthFest, held in Kamiah, Idaho, in June. YouthFest 2011 included fun-filled activities for adoles cents and their families with an anti-drug, anti-alcohol message. The festival is two days of free rides, games and activities that start off the summer. Each year, a speaker promotes a drug- and alcohol-free lifestyle. YouthFest 2011 is an innovative way to hold a town hall meeting and a chan nel through which to deliver a message about alcohol and other substance abuse prevention. It is open to all communities near Kamiah. Courtesy photo American Indian youth attend a Beauty and the Beast performance through a grant from the Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund. General Council Meeting Thanks to Siletz Valley School Nov. 5,2011 • 1 p.m. • Siletz Tribal Community Center • Siletz, Oregon Call to Order Invocation Programs: Hunting & Fishing Agreement Flag Salute Tribal Members’ Concerns Roll Call Tribal Council Candidate Declarations Approval of Agenda Chairman’s Report Approval of Minutes S.T.Y.L.E Youth Council Announcements Adjourn ....... All of Siletz Clinic is tobacco-free The Siletz Community Health Clinic property is 100 percent tobacco-free. The policy prohibits all tobacco use by everyone - no smoking in your car, in the parking lot or on clinic property. I would like to thank the Siletz Val ley School f®r all their help in teaching me how the school services special education students. It was my first time experiencing the Run to the Rogue and I was glad to start it off with Ms. Butler’s fourth grade class and then end it with my Great Uncle Ray Ben, Aunt Pam and Joe. The journey of my ancestors gave me a new perspective in life and gave me an uplifting boost. I hope my studies at the University of Oregon in the special education pro gram allow me more time to visit SVS. Special thanks to JJ! Hvm’-chi’ Tiffany Stuart (Siletz Tribal member and UO graduate student) We do not provide any cigarette disposal units, so please keep all of your tobacco products in your personal vehicle. To use mail order pharmacy to order your refills after hours and on weekends: Please call the Siletz Clinic 7-10 days before you need your refills. This allows us time to contact your provider, if necessary, and for mailing. We do not have designated smoking areas, so no smoking in the parking lot, in your car or behind the building. • Call 800-648-0449; enter 1624 as soon as the clinic’s message begins-you’ll be transferred to the refill line. • Or, call the refill line direct - 541-444-9624. Thank you for helping to keep our clinic tobacco-free and clean. ToothTalk: Interest in enthobotany and flossing your teeth on Black Friday By Mary Ellen Volansky, RDH, MS In August, Diane Rodriquez inter viewed me on her weekly radio show, Spotlight on Siletz. We talked briefly afterward and at the end of our conversa tion, she suggested I write about what I had told her on the air. Diane asked me to write about why I have been interested in plants and those used by American Indians for oral health care. Until then, I had thought the reason was obvious. So here I am writing one more article about Native American oral health ethnobotany, specifically about Pacific Northwest and Siletz Indians. Mostly, I short-sightedly figured you were like me in that you didn’t know how much Indians had learned over the millenniums, how much your ancestors had utilized plants for their medical and dental health care needs. Articles and books from the 1800s and early 1900s provide strong evidence that Indians did not have problems with cavities and gum disease - until the intro duction of processed sugars and foods. Indians had tooth troubles from wear or injury, not from decay or gum disease. The first book I found on this subject was written by Daniel E. Moerman. It is three inches thick and lists more than 3,000 plants, what they were used for and the Tribe(s) living on this continent who used them. What was there not to be excited about? But there was another important item in Moerman’s book. It wouldn’t have been so huge or exciting if it had not been for Indians like you who shared Tribal information with him. Then connections arose between what Indians practiced for oral health care 200 years ago and present-day practices of dentistry. So I wrote about pine sap, licorice root and oil of clove. There was so much and I wanted to share all of it with you. It wasn’t that I wanted you to just know something important. I wanted you to feel the inspiration and pride I believe is inherent in what were common practices for your ancestors - the ways your ancestors prepared food, what foods they prepared and the plants used to treat problems. These practices lead to healthy teeth and gums. So I did have a secondary gain by sharing all of this with you. I thought if I showed you the enormous number of plants and the many uses found by American Indians (ethnobotany) for those plants and the great oral health that was experienced by your ancestors because of this work, you might want what I want for you. What I do I want for you? Great oral health - which would lead to better health overall. I also had a third gain for writing about ethnobotany. By learning about the intelligent efforts of your ancestors, you would do what is today’s equivalent of American Indian oral health ethnobotany. You would make regular appoint ments to see the dentist of your choice. You would get your teeth cleaned every three to six months. And you’d brush two times per day and floss daily. When you had an appointment at your health clinic, you would want to keep it because you would know the benefits to be gained. And you would want those benefits for yourself and your family. Or you could go back to those health ful practices - give up soda, stop eating white sugar and flour, brush with an ocean spray chew stick and prepare your foods with a mortis and pestle. All are points for great oral health - which would lead to better health overall. National Flossing Day Remember that Nov. 25 is National Flossing Day. In honor of this day, a cel ebration shared with Black Friday, you could floss with black floss. And as you stand in line in the dark, wet and cold early-morning hours, waiting to get to those fantastic bargains, you can show how dental savvy you are. You can begin your National Flossing Day celebration by pulling out your black floss and floss- ing those beautiful teeth of yours. November 2011 • Siletz News • 13 *
