Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 1978)
PAGE 8 SEPTEMBER 8, 1878 B u d g et ’7 9 Note: The Tribal Council is currently in the process of reviewing In the meantime Spilyay will be presenting the highlights of each the proposed tribal budget for 1979. By October 2 it should be posted for branch’s proposed budget and objectives with emphasis on changes, tribal members to inspect with general council meetings held increases, and new programs. thereafter on a district basis. Health Br anch's Cure For Itself And Community by Cynthia Stowell One of Tribal Council’s cur rent priorities is health and social services but it remains to be seen whether the Health Branch’s proposed 65 percent increase will survive their scruti ny. Objectives for 1979 as well as requested dollars point out three major directions planned for the branch: improved and expanded services to the community, bet ter coordination among the de partm ent and programs, and the development of staff. Health Branch Manager Bob Jackson, who arrived last winter, has taken a firm hold on the reins of what many felt to be a runaway collection of human services, and is attempting to whip it into shape. Jackson was initially quite impressed with the scope of services available in a com munity the size of Warm Springs. “I see it as a major commitment on the part of the Tribes to deal with as many of its own problems as it can,” he remarked. But* such a comprehensive self-help approach has certain challenges built in, Jackson dis covered. One is the effective utilization and training of tribal members as providers and an other is maintaining continuity in services. Many internal changes, in cluding adm inistrative reorgan ization, branch-level coordina tion of training, and the formal ization of procedures, have been proposed as solutions to these problem areas. But at the same time the branch will continue to expand its service potential with the addition of five new programs and 12.5 new positions. & What’s new Two entirely new depart ments were created in the Health Branch, once of which is already functioning. A 1978 objective calling for a Comprehensive Health and Social Services Plan for the Tribes is being realized in the hiring of a Health Planner, Sal Sahme. He will spend 18 months determining the needs of the Warm Springs community and designing a plan of action to address those needs, a process he hopes will be just a beginning to continuous health planning (see separate story)’. The Health Branch plans to put more energy into prevention in 1979 to supplement its already extensive in tervention pro grams, said Jackson. The addi tion of a Community Mental Health Educator is a step in this direction. His-her tasks would be threefold: to act as a liaison between the community and health branch programs, to as sist existing programs in edu cational-preventative efforts, and to prioritize community mental health concerns and co ordinate branch efforts to deal with those problems. The mental health educator would augment the Indian Health Service educator’s contributions to the improvement of physical health in the community, said Jackson. In a similar public relations and education vein, the branch is currently working on a brochure explaining available services and how they can be used. Due to be completed by December, the brochures will be printed when funds become available in 1979 and then distributed to tribal members, and the general public. A pilot project has been conceived to extend service to a segment of the population that had not received effective treat ment. The Wilderness Program, if approved, would provide youth who are chronic alcohol and drug abusers with a survival exper ience in the out-of-doors. Young people who are without motiva tion or direction would learn self- reliance and pride by living and working in an isolated area and engaging in traditional activities with the guidance of well-trained staff. According to Jackson, the Wilderness Program is the Num ber One grant in the state, and the National Indian Activities Association is very interested in funding it. A new item in the Health Branch’s budget is the Senior Citizen’s Program which incor porates some existing services but adds the operational expen ses of the new senior citizens HUD complex. Monthly meals, excursions, rent and wood will be continued. In addition, recrea tional facilities will be provided at the complex, including saunas and whirlpools, and a .custodian will be hired to live at the complex and.oversee the physi cal plant. What’s different Staff training has always b’een available at the depart mental level, but such oppor tunities will be offered on a branchwide basis in 1979, to be coordinated by the Mental Health Professional. This system should prevent duplication of efforts but also allow common needs to be addressed and provide exposure to a variety of treatm ent theories and methods, predictedJackson. The main objective is not to find one treatm ent modality for all programs but to give depart ments the opportunity to select the best modality for their pur poses. Each position in the Health Branch will have its own stan dards by which the staff member will be measured, thus providing “planned, systematic opportuni ties for growth,” said Jackson. This two-way commitment — from management to supply training and advancement, and from the employee to willingly engage in self-improvement — should result in the increased self-confidence of staff and ulti mately the confidence of clients in the programs, remarked Jack- son. While employees are on the road to self-betterment, Jackson is asking them to also focus their attention on the tightening and formalizing of program proced ures. It is a “survival process,” the manager explained, by which policy must be documented so a client can be more assured of moving smoothly through the system. These in-house proced ural efforts muct be coordinated Designing A Health Plan Far The Reservation among the departments to pro vide continuity in servicing, Jackson noted. S everal ad m in istrativ e changes have been made within the Branch to produce a more smoothly-working and account able organization, pointed out Jackson. Two offices were given their own budget — Alcohol and Drugs and Health, Welfare, Pro bation-Parole. Previously they operated out of program budgets and their objectives were not isolated. Three programs that receiv ed no direct superivision — Maternal and Child Health, Com munity Health Representatives and Nutrition — have been combined into one program, Allied Health Services, under the supervision of Adeline Miller. Also combined under the Welfare Supervisor, Gayle Rogers, were WIC and the Se 3F Citizen Pro gram. (see department and pro gram breakdown below). And what’s more The PATH foster care pro gram received a large boost because of the increased cost of -groceries and child care, but also because of the addition of a new component. A live-in facility has been proposed for young children who cannot adapt to a foster home and are too young for the group home. To be located in the residence of the late Vernon Jackson and his family, the pro ject is being referred to as the Jackson Home. As presented in the budget package, tribal expenditures in the Health Branch for 1979 appear to increase dramatically, but as Jackson pointed out, grants and contracts may pro vide many of the actual dollars. In 1978 one-third of the Health Branch’s funds were supplied by outside sources and Jackson anticipates that proportion to remain about the same or rise a bit in 1979. Although branch depart ments actively seek outside fund ing, they try not -to let the availability of funds dictate structure and content of pro grams. A grant won’t be ac cepted if it is too compromising, HEALTH PLANNER SAL SAHME AND BRANCH MANAGER BOB JACKSON. Jackson said. In the past, federal monies anyone involved or interested in While working toward a around the availability of funds, have comprised the bulk of health planning, including the he noted. The “phenomenal graduate degree in mental health Tribal Council, Health and Wel outside funding but the Health administration, tribal member growth” of the Health Branch Breanch will be tapping state fare Committee, and employees Sal Sahme conceived the idea of has proceeded with no particular funds in the coming year — if a comprehensive health plan for direction. As a result, treatment in the Health Branch, Bureau Ballot Measure No. 6 (property and Indian Health Service. is inconsistent and communica the Warm Springs community. tax limitation) does not alter the Three laws in particular will Now, four years and two health tion among departments and picture significantly, remarked be presented, said Sahme: P.L. branch m anagers later, that with potential clients is lacking, Jackson. 93-638, the Indian Self-Determi dream is being realized — and Sahme observed. nation Act; P.L. 94-437, Indian COMPONENTS OF THE Sahme is back in town to make Health Care Improvement; and “The most critical thing in sure it happens. HEALTH AND SOCIAL P.L. 93-641, National Health Sahme is the new Health the whole planning process is the SERVICES BRANCH Planning and Resource Develop Planner, a position that is not need for not only the providers ment. He will explain not dnly HEALTH BRANCH OFFICE budgeted until 1979 but is well owning the plan but also for the “what, why, where and how” Health Planner underway in 1978. As proposed, people in the community to have of the acts, but also the limita Community Mental Health Edu the comprehensive Health and ownership,” said Sahme about tions and constraints posed by cator Support Services Plan is an the process he is launching. “The the laws and their implications Mental Health Professional 18-month project, but Sahme planning process has to be very for the Confederated Tribes. predicts that the result of his visible to the community and its Alochol an Drug Department A follow-up workshop will be work will be a “foundation” from purpose very obvious.” Alochol Program To ensure community in held with the same participants which an ongoing tribal health Drug Program to establish planning priorities been planning process should develop. volvement Sahme has Wilderness Program and suggest program âlterna- Already Sahme has his next working closely with the -Health Crisis and Family Unit tives. This whole exèrcise should Family and Childrens Services year and a half mapped out, and Welfare Committee and will serve to identify the “leader starting with a community pro be holding a general council Residential Group Home ship” who will keep the planning file, moving on to an assessment meeting in the next month. Outreach Program process ongoing, said Sahme. of the community’s needs based Sahme also hopes that people PATH Foster Care Sahme noted that the Tribes Health, Welfare, Probation - on gaps in existing services, and will feel free to volunteer their face a critical period in planning, Parole the design and implementation input at any time. since they have the opportunity One of Sahme’s first projects of a health plan for the reser Parole-Probation to shed the “paternalism ” of the vation. The first rough draft is will be to offer a workshop on Allied Health Services (CHR, federal government’s delivery of MCH, Nutrition) due to be completed by April 1. current health legislation that services and design a system Sahme feels comprehensive affects planning on this reser Welfare (WIC, Senior Citi planning is long overdue. In the vation. Scheduled for mid-Octo zens) (Continued on Page 12) past, planning has revolved ber, the workshop is intended for
