Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 2004)
Spilyqy Tyvnoo, Wqrm Springs, Oregon September 2, 2004 PqgeS Reservation extension agents have a focus on youth By D. "Bing" Bingham Spijay Tymoo Fresh faces and new ideas are the quickest way to describe OSU Extension's three newest agents on the reservation. Fara Ann Currim will focus on agriculture, but an increas ing amount of her time will be concentrating on youth develop ment. Emilee Hugie's efforts will be on assisting young people and families. And Kimberly Woolston will be replacing Arlene Boileau working with youngsters and 4-H. "In the last six to eight years Tribal Council has always put youth as a high priority, conse quently it becomes a very high priority for us," said Clint Jacks, of Jefferson County OSU Ex tension Services. "It's interesting to take a look at all the positions we have at Warm Springs, be cause every one of them has some sort of youth component." Most folks on the reserva tion will recognize Currim from her work on the ceded lands with Natural Resources. She is a habitat biologist. She feels her previous job will give her a jump-start as a new Extension Agent: "My old job was a real asset in understanding tribal issues and culture," she says. "I formed strong relationships with people who helped me a lot and that's important to this job." FA . V?, '- 1 ;i;7- ! J' V X v tat utimmmm f1 It was Family Jamboree Day at the Warm Springs Community Wellness Center last week. The activities included extreme sports activities, and more traditional types of fair games. At top, Martika Saludo Kelly prepares for a sumo wrestling match. The contestants wore over-stuffed sumo outfits, and tried to knock one another down. At left, Marlin Suppah competes in the basketball-type game, where the players are attached by bungee cords to the air-filled tower. Jamboree Day was presented by the Recreation Department. Dave McMechanSpilyay She continues, "1 think it's very important for tribal people to be working on the reserva tion, dealing with their natural resources." Of her job she said, "I love working directly with the people and I like being part of this community." Currim feels the community will dictate mahy of the de mands of her job. Take, for ex ample, the newly re-formed Rockin' 4-H club. "I was approached in my first month by concerned mothers and other people," she said. "They expressed the need to get the club up and running again." The Rockin' 4-H club had not been on the immediate list of her priorities. However, when she saw how important it is to members of the commu nity, she made sure the correct people were put in the proper positions to make it happen. "The club is running again after being dead for 10 years. It didn 't happen because of me. It happened because people wanted it to happen," she says. People who recognize com munity needs are important to Currim. Recently, retired rodeo cowboy Edison Yazzie walked into her office and said, "There's a need to learn good roping skills on the reservation. There isn't anyone who's doing that and we're losing the art." Minutes later Yazzie agreed to put together a roping clinic with the help of the Warm Springs Rodeo Association and a few other interested tribal members. The clinic was a re sounding success (see page 6, Family and community Currim is a regular around the reservation. And there are some folks who might think family and community develop ment specialist Emilee Hugie looks familiar, too. Hugie grew up in Madras and has been involved in 4-H and, peripherally, with Extension for many years. The scope of her job will cover a lot of terri tory. First up, though, are the kids. Right now she's involved in projects that support the children in school. "We have a field trip for fifth and sixth graders to go up to the Central Oregon Agricultural Research Center and work with the weather station," she says. There is a computer acces sible weather station on top of the Warm Springs Elementary School; however, it is little used. To remedy the situation fourth- and fifth-grade classes will go on a field trip to the re search center on Agency Plains and learn about computers and their weather station. See EXTENSION on 7 Story idea? Call the Spilyay 553-3274 Enterprise (541) 553-1471 P.O. Box 535 Warm Springs, OR 97761 CB No. 89498 -Demolition -Driveways Top Soil -Water, sewer hookups Cattle guards -Home sites -Debris removal -Rock products Locally owned and operated All work guaranteed Feds look at better ways to fund Indian Health Services programs Ad for the Spilyay? Call S am, 7 49 -0424. Jessica is 15 and will be a sophmore this upcoming school year. For the past couple of months she has worked at Spilyay Tymoo as a summer youth worker, and was able to get a first hand experience at producing a news article. She plans to study journal ism in school and pursue jour nalism as a professional career. (AP) - With no extra fund ing in sight for Indian Health Services, federal officials are looking at more ways to make money go further, an assistant secretary for the U.S. Depart ment of Health and Human Services said last week. "If you can't get Congress to fully fund, what's your fallback?" Michael O'Grady asked, as he spoke at an annual tribal health conference hosted by the Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council. Efficiency steps taken by his agency include finding ways tribal and federal officials can better cooperate and promote preventive steps that will both save money and control ill nesses. In some cases, O'Grady said the Indian Health Service may be paying for services that should be covered by Medicaid or Medicare. He said recent changes in Medicare, including covering 75 percent of prescrip tion drug costs and free physi cal exams for new recipients, will also help. O'Grady said government officials will also have to make some decisions soon about what to do for long-term care de mands as baby boomers age. "To me, that's a sleeping gi ant," he said. "But not much attention is being drawn to it." IHS research analyst Cliff Wiggins said that for each of the 1.4 million tribal members who use IHS programs, there is a $1,500 annual shortfall com pared with mainstream health plans. That amounts to a bud get gap of more than $2 billion a year in the IHS budget of $3.5 billion, Wiggins said Pioneer Rock & Monument Markers Al CX Monuments S Bob & Kris Rising Inscriptions f l P.O. Box 348 Stone cleaning I -A Cold Stone Repair J 509-7734702 315 mmm HQ mmm IPS!-- Quutd Opening, Chinese Restaurant Hunch d pedal) 11-3. iPtepwted pmfi daily. 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