Spilyqy Tyvnoo, Wqrm Springs, Oregon
September 2, 2004
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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."
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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
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hookups
Cattle guards
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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
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