Siletz Home Visiting Program ready to help Tribal families with young ones
The Siletz Home Visiting Program
is gearing up to begin services this June.
The program has hired two home
visitors who will serve the 11-county
service area. Heather Butler will serve
families in Lincoln, Tillamook, Yamhill
and Polk counties and Jessica Phillips
will serve families in Lane, Linn, Benton,
Marion, Multnomah, Clackamas and
Washington counties.
Additional staff includes Patrice
Clevenger, coordinator, and Dorene
Rilatos, outreach specialist and data
coordinator.
Butler is from Siletz and has worked
in several positions with the Tribe over
the years. She is excited about working in
the Home Visiting Program because she
has wanted to work directly with families
for a long time. She brings lots of family
support expertise with her.
Phillips comes to us from Looking
Glass, a youth support facility in Eugene,
Ore. She has an associate degree in social
work and is a registered doula, a birth
coach. She is excited about this new posi-
tion since she too will be able to use her
many family support skills with her Home
Visiting families.
Families will be very fortunate to
have either of these young ladies as their
home visitor.
The Siletz Home Visiting Program
will begin to serve families with first
births beginning in June and in July it
will serve families with first births or
subsequent births.
The home visitors will come into
the homes either before the birth of the
baby or right after to share information
on prenatal care and infant care. Home
visitors will begin visiting families on
a weekly basis by sharing information
on Your Growing Child, Sudden Infant
Death Syndrome (SIDS), Toddler Care,
My Family and Me, and Healthy Living.
Home visitors will help the family
coordinate with any other service it may
need. They will encourage the parents to
be the best that they can and teach them
how to be their child’s first and best teacher.
In addition, the Home Visiting Pro-
gram will bring books during each visit
to each child living in the home. Children
who are read to on a daily basis will be
more prepared for Head Start, preschool
and kindergarten.
Children who have the necessary skills
to begin school on a positive note are more
likely to become good students, graduate
from high school and go on to higher edu-
cation, whether that be college, technical
school or a “ learn as you go” career.
We all want strong families in our
community and Home Visiting will
help assure that our families are strong
and supportive.
If you know someone who is expect-
ing, tell them about this new program for
Siletz Tribal members and their children.
Look for brochures and welcome infor-
mation at the Siletz Community Health
Clinic and at all Tribal area offices.
For more information, call Dorene
Rilatos at 541-444-9603 or 800-922-
1399, ext. 1603; or Patrice Clevenger at
541-444-8332 or 800-922-1399, ext. 1332,
Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
If you are in the Siletz area, drop by
our office in the old clinic building dur-
ing regular business hours. We’d love to
talk with you.
Photo by Diane Rodriquez
Heather Butler, Patrice Clevenger and Jessica Phillips of the Siletz Home Visiting
Program. Not pictured: Dorene Rilatos.
LaptopcomputersagainavailableforTribalstudents
The Tribal Central Office is accept-
ing applications for the Student Laptop
Program beginning June 2, 2014.
This program is specifically for
higher education and AVT students who
meet the following eligibility require-
ments and have not previously received
a student laptop:
•
•
Must be an enrolled Siletz Tribal
member
Must provide copy of current term class
schedule of six credit hours or more
•
•
Must provide an unofficial transcript/
grade report of successful comple-
tion of two part-time or full-time
(six credit hours or more) quarters/
semesters of higher education/AVT
program with a minimum 2.0 GPA
and 1201, or direct at 541-444-8200 and
541-444-8201.
Desktop computers – The desktop
program remains suspended for this
calendar year.
For more information about
the Siletz Tribe, please visit
ctsi.nsn.us.
Proof of residence required
Applications are available on the
Tribe’s website (ctsi.nsn.us) or by
contacting April Middaugh or Darlene
Carkhuff at 800-922-1399, ext.1200
Time to gather materials for baskets
Spring is here and very soon hazel
sticks will be ready to pick and peel.
Hazel stick gathering is a must for
anyone interested in making traditional
Siletz baskets. Spruce root can be dug all
year round and is used for the weavers or
weft of Siletz baskets.
Bear grass and maidenhair fern are
used for overlay to make our traditional
designs or marks in our baskets and both
are picked in late summer.
Any Tribal members interested in
gathering can call Bud Lane at 800-922-
1399, ext. 1320, or 541-444-8320, or
e-mail budl@ctsi.nsn.us.
Just a reminder – basket materials
must be gathered in a timely fashion.
Here is a general breakdown of gath-
ering times for different materials:
June
Hazel, willow and fir sticks (until
mid-June); spruce roots
Honor and Celebration
July
The Taft High 7-12 Native Student Association (NSA) would like to invite all our
Elders and Taft High alumni to join us at our annual Senior Barbeque Celebration
on June 6, 2014, from 4:30-8:30 p.m.
Fir sticks, spruce roots, bear grass,
maidenhair fern
August
This invitation is open to all Lincoln County 2014 Indian Education graduating stu-
dents and their families. Join us in celebrating and honoring their accomplishments.
Fir sticks, spruce roots, bear grass,
maidenhair fern, hazel sticks (limited),
willow sticks
Besides food, we will have door prizes throughout the evening. If you feel like
dancing or just for your enjoyment, music will be provided by a Taft alumni DJ.
September
This is a free event.
Bear grass, maidenhair fern, wood-
wardia fern, spruce roots
TaftHigh7-12•3780SpyglassRidgeRoad•LincolnCity,Oregon
For more information, contact Juanita whitebear
541-996-2115 or juanita.whitebear@lincoln.k12.or.us
June 2014
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SiletzNews
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