On the Rez
Page 12 Spilyay Tymoo September 19, 2002
Eat, walk and test yoeraelff to good health
Diabetes Program focuses on daily exercise, diet and early diagnosis to control and prevent
complications from diabetes inNative Americans
Photos and story
by Shannon
Keavenj
Diabetes is on the rise at Warm
Springs Indian Reservation.
Well, not really, more like
early diagnosis and control of symp
toms are on the rise, thanks to pro
grams like The Diabetes Walking Club,
which is actively taking large strides to
promote walking among Native Ameri
cans. Since June, the club has had
monthly walks, with snacks, pedom
eters, blood sugar tests, water, lunch,
diabetes educational materials, free t
shirts, and prizes. Approximately 100
people are registered and more are
coming. The last walk had a turnout
of 40 participants.
"We want to keep people moving."
says Carolyn Harvey, Community
Wellness Program and exercise coor
dinator. "We recommend one mile per day,
that is 2000 steps, but each person is
different, so do whatever you can."
encourages Kim Yackus, exercise in
structor at the Wellness Community
Center.
Pedometers, a device used to track
distance with steps, are given out for
free. Participants who reach 300 miles
in any time span, from one month to
one year or more, receive a reward.
"By that time" says Yaskus, "We
hope a habit has formed."
The Diabetes Walking Club also
provides free finger-stick blood sugar
testing before and after their monthly
promotion walks in an effort to show
participants the effects of exercise on
blood sugar levels. Folks with abnor
mally high blood sugar are recom
mended to get an AC1 test, a blood
test that reveals your blood sugar lev
els over the last three months, and a
possible official diabetes diagnosis. The
free tests serve as a means to recog
nize an early onset of diabetes.
Susan Mathhews, diabetes nurse
educator at the Indian Health Service
(IHS) clinic, explains the purpose of
the test "is really only an informal
screening to let people know it may
be good to get an official diagnosis at
the clinic."
Early diagnosis before disaster may
be what's adding to the rise in reser
vation diabetes statistics, now up to
339 active patients, at the IHS clinic.
Diagnosed tribal members may be
pushing the numbers up but are likely
to have a less advanced case of diabe
tes and less of a chance of complica
tions resulting from diabetes. It is
more likely new statistics reflect a
growing awareness and responsibility
Rock Art: Current preservation a stroke of luck
(Continued from page 1)
neuropsychological symbols every
one sees in altered states.
In contrast, she thinks, "They
could come from visions. A zig-zag
could be water, a snake, or lightning.
Maybe they were spirits. Maybe a
woman saw a mountain place to har
vest in her rite of passage for berry
picking." referring to the triangular
zig-zag at the site on Miller Island,
which she said immediately made her
think of the Three Sisters mountain
range.
She hypothesizes about the Co
lumbia "plateau's rock art origin, " I
think they were cither seeking some
thing for themselves or seeking some
thing for someone else.'
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among tribal members.
Diabetes Type 2, also known as adult
diabetes, is found in alarming percent
ages in Native Americans throughout
the country. It is becoming more com
mon in children. An IHS study revealed
that in the years 1991 to 1997 the
prevalence of diabetes among Ameri
can Indians increased among adoles
cents by 32 percent; among adults age
20-24 by 36 percent; and among adults
age 25-34 by 28 percent.
People with diabetes cannot use
food for energy very well. In a healthy
person, food eaten is digested and
changed into a type of sugar called
glucose. When diabetic, the glucose
stays in the bloodstream.
If these levels stay high for a long
period of time, health complications
will occur. Diabetes is the number
Whipple is pleased, that today's
archaeologists are eager to listen to
elders like her grandma.
"They seemed really receptive to
our theories", she said, "We both
made great accomplishments, We (the
tribes) now have a better understand
ing of rock art globally and we also
know there is a respectful intention
to know more from the other side."
Mystery shrouds the petroglyphs
and pictographs found throughout
the Columbia River Plateau.
Much of the rich oral mythology
associated with the petroglyphs and
pictographs was lost in F-uropcan epi
demics that swept through the area.
In the Dalles area approximately 90
percent of the population was wiped
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one cause of blindness, amputations,
and kidney failure in the United States.
It is generally thought people inherit
the tendency to get diabetes from their
parents which is triggered by lack of
exercise, extra weight and
stress. Symptoms such as excessive
thirst, excessive urination, blurred
vision, tiredness, and sores that don't
heal are signs of a diabetes onset and
probably means it's time to go to the
doctor.
Timely diabetes pinpointing has
become priority throughout the na
tion. More and more Native Ameri
can diabetics are preventing pro
gressed diabetic conditions through
diet and exercise. Tribal members are
avoiding heart attacks, amputations, kid
ney failure, eye problems, periodontal
disease and strokes by addressing the
out due to disease by 1840.
More than 160 sites have been iden
tified in the lower Columbia area, an
area defined as the watershed between
Priest Rapids and The Dalles, exclud
ing the Snake River.
About 90 of the sites can be found
between The Dalles and Pasco with
other large concentrations found along
the middle and lower Deschutes River.
Many were flooded when they
dammed the Columbia below Celilo
Falls and other areas.
Some pictographs have suffered
vandalism by chalk, paint, and
scratched initials.
A few sites are fading from natural
weathering.
A unique natural preservation oc
LEFT: Leroy Bobb strides to the
administration building, the first stop
for the Diabetes Walk, where healthy
snacks, water and educational
materials were waiting for
participants. BOTTOM RIGHT:
Diabetes Walk Club participants line
up for a finger-prick blood test before
taking off. Another blood test was
given at the end of walk in an effort
to display the benefits of walking on
blood sugar levels. BOTTOM
MIDDLE: A Diabetes walk participant
snatches a healthy snack provided
by the diabetes program. A low
carbohydrate diet helps keep blood
sugar low and is recommended for
diabetics.
ailment before it reaches a detrimental
stage. , '
"It used to be," said Sara Thomas,
nutritionist for Indian Health Ser
vices, "that we didn't know if some
one had diabetes until they had com
plications from it, like a heart attack.
And then it was to late, the damage
was done."
It's now proven exercise helps
lower blood sugar.
Recent studies have confirmed that
any amount of physical activity will
not only help control blood sugar for
diagnosed diabetics but also help pre
vent onset of diabetes. People who are
overweight will still reduce their
chances of diabetes with minimal
physical activity, even 10 minutes a day
helps.
Said Harvey, "We're talking mod
currence, keeps those still with us
around. Pictographs, defined as rock
paintings, are most often red, but
white, black, yellow, and even blue
green pigments were also used. The
red pigment was made from various
different minerals.
Crushed iron oxides (hematite and
limonite) produced the commonly
seen red and yellow colors. Clays bore
white and copper oxides, green.
Both charcoal and manganese ox
ide produced black, These mineral
pigments were crushed with binding
agents, like blood, egg, fat, plant juice,
or urine, to produce paint.
The paintings are estimated to be
between 200 and 12,000 years old.
Their current presentation state is a
erate exercise here. You don't have to
train for a marathon to benefit from
your exercise."
The growing diabetes epidemic
has become increasingly pronounced
in the last 50 years. Studies show full
blooded Indians are more likely to be
burdened with the disease. It is widely
thought that the disease became more
rampant as traditional lifestyles
changed and were abandoned, creat
ing a society with less physical activ
ity and consequently weight gain.
This theory known as the "thrifty
gene theory" hypothesizes that indig
enous tribes of North America were
made to get through famine. For this
reason, their bodies became adept at
storing food for times of strife. In
today's society famine usually does
not exist and there is no reason to
store food in the body, resulting in
weight gain.
Being overweight is a major pre
cursor for diabetes in all groups of
people. When overweight, cells be
come coated in fat and insulin in your
blood stream is not able to enter the
cell, causing high blood sugar.
With today's knowledge of the
benefits of exercise and diet as pre
vention and control, diabetes is becom
ing a less frightening disease.
Thomas explained the change she
has seen in the last eight years.
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, It is no longer a fatalistic thing like it
used to be. It is now becoming com
mon knowledge that if you control it,
you can avoid the problems associ
ated with it."
"Diabetics", she insisted, "can
have full productive lives. It is a
chronic disease but it is not termi
nal." Thomas's nutritional advice for
tribal members is to keep getting those
omega-3 oils by eating traditional
foods such as fish and eel.
Lack of traditional foods is thought
to contribute to the diabetes plight of
Native Americans. Getting food used
to mean getting exercise, preventing
obesity.
Wild game iswas very lean and
has a healthier kind of fat than mod
ern beef and pork. Food preparation
was low fat and not fried but instead
boiled, dried, smoked, or baked.
Foods were less processed and higher
in fiber. Native Americans rarely had
access to fats, sweets, and salt.
For more information on diabetes
and related programs, call Carolyn
Harvey at 5534166
stroke of luck.
Mineral deposits that seep over
cliffs, after a rain, act as a fixative for
paintings.
When the rainwater evaporates, it
leaves a thin film of mineral that is
transparent in ideal situations. Heavy
mineral build up will cloud images..
Between the pictographs unique
preservation, Viola Kalama's memo
ries of childhood stories, and dedi
cated scholars, the story once told,
may someday be told again.
Some factual information for this
article was taken from the book "Indian
Rock Art of the Columbia Plateau" by
James D. Keyser