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
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Siletz News
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