News from Indian Country
Pc11 Spilyqy Tymoo July 7, 2005
Program helps Indians enter health careers
OKI.AMOMA CITY (Al)
Verrica Livingston knows the
exact moment she decided to go
into the medical field,
She and her mother took her
7-year-old brother.Justin, to the
Indian I (ealth Services hospital
in Gallup, N.M., for treatment,
but were turned away because
of a shortage of doctors. There
had been a traffic accident, and
the scant staff had to allocate
their resources to the injured.
The hospital urged I .Kingston's
mother to take Justin home and
come back the next day, but she
refused.
They waited at the hospital
for about four hours before a
doctor was available to examine
Justin. Once the doctor diag
nosed him with pneumonia, he
was finally admitted to the hos
pital, where he remained for
about two days.
"Sick kids shouldn't be
turned away," said Livingston, a
17-year-old Navajo who lives on
the Twin Lakes reservation in
New Mexico.
A year later, I jvingston is tak
ing the first step toward becom
ing a pediatrician as one of 18
American Indian students from
across the United States attend
ing the I Ieadlands Indian I Iealth
Council -
(Continued from page 1)
He said all senior citixens
from the tribe should "get to
gether and name the casino. I
think the people ought to get
together and find another name
fork."
Tribal jail
Several tribal members'
voiced concerns about the
Warm Springs jail. Jail issues in
cluded how inmates are treated
once they are incarcerated, how
they are fed, how often minis
ters from the reservation are
allowed inside the jail to conduct
church services, and the num
ber of tribal members employed
as jail keepers.
, Floyd Calica said that with all
that had been said about the
criminal justice system in Warm
Springs, he hopes Jody Calica,
the secretary-treasurer, investi
gates the situation and "restores
accountability."
Floyd Calica also expressed
support for the current direction
of the tribal government in es
tablishing the casino in Cascade
Locks.
"A 20-percent minority is still
doing what it can to keep the
casino in Warm Springs," he
said. "I really don't see the ne
cessity to re-create the wheel
again and have a meeting or
another referendum, when the
wheels are already turning and
we're all for the Gorge. We've
invested $9 million into it. Per
sonally, I would like to see a six
or eight-figure return down the
road."
Education
Lana Leonard, student liaison
Youth
(Continued from page 1)
Every year the youth pro
gram holds an orientation to in
troduce the youth, usually at the
age of 14, into a work setting,
and to show them what to ex
pect and how to deal with cer
tain situations. They teach them
about listening, using appropri
ate language and following the
dress code.
Even with the orientation
some kids refuse to follow the
rules, or otherwise act inappro
priately. There were a couple of
Career Program at the Univer
sity of Oklahoma this summer.
The program is an intense eight
week curriculum designed to
give American Indians entering
college a leg up in math and sci
ence courses so they will be
more apt to choose a health pro
fession and succeed in it.
"We change their lives,"
I Ieadlands director Tom I lardy
said. "Most of the students who
have ended up in a health ca
reer say they couldn't have done
it without this program."
1-ess than 1 percent of cur
rent US. medical schxl students
arc American Indians, said
Parrel Pratt, chief of health
professions support for Indian
Health Services, the principal
federal health care provider for
American Indians and Alaska
Natives.
According to the American
Medical Association, the United
States had only 503 American
Indian physicians in 2003, mak
ing up 0.06 percent of the
country's more than 871,000
physicians.
Studies show that minority
physicians are more likely to
return to their communities and
provide care for minority and
underscrved populations, ac
at the Jefferson County middle
and high schools, in the last
speech of the evening, spoke
passionately about education of
younger tribal members.
"It doesn't seem like our
people are being educated," she
said. "Nobody talks about it."
She had a packet of infor
mation that included a five-page
document Leonard created with
her colleague at the middle
school, Butch David. The docu
ment showed statistics involving
Native American students at
school, including the number of
students suspended during the
school year, the number of days
students missed school and the
reasons they gave.
The document also had sug
gestions for tribal leadership to
consider, including imposing a
more strict school attendance
standard, making students who
are suspended from school per
form community service for
the time they are suspended,
making the boarding schools
more accountable, and having
members of the tribal commu
nity visit schools in the 509-J
school district during the school
year.
Leonard said she would be in
favor of making the summer
youth worker program an incen
tive program. "Kids should have
to have good attendance and
good grades (to be in the pro
gram)," she said. "What are they
going to do if they don't gradu
ate from high school?"
She said more focus should
be put on the education of
young tribal members, and
more should be done for the
students who graduate high
school.
The General Council meet
ing was held June 28 at the
Agency Longhouse.
cases where workers showed up
to their interviews with hickies.
This is inappropriate in a place
that demands professionalism.
Every once in a while there
are students who come to the
job bruised up from fights over
the weekend. This is also
deemed unprofessional.
One of the major problems
in many worksites is overuse of
the Internet, such as playing
games on the computer or surf
,ing the w eb.
"If you're bored, take the
initiative to ask for work,"
Kalama said.
cording to the AMA. Of the
6,600 health professionals work
ing for Indian Health Services
last year, 37 percent were
American Indians.
"You want to get them back
serving other native communi
ties," said Hazel Lonewolf,
Headlands resident adviser. "I
think that's the goal of the pro
gram." The lack of American Indi
ans in the medical field is due
to educational factors, Hardy
said. Many American Indians
live on reservations, where a
large number of schools are
underfunded, have inadequate
facilities and are unable to re
cruit adequate math and science
teachers at the high-school level,
officials said.
As a result, American Indian
students who try to pursue a
health career in college are of
ten ill-prepared for the intense
math and science courses re
quired and switch to another
field of study or drop out alto
gether, I lardy said.
I Ieadlands participants spend
six to eight hours every week
day in math and science-oriented
classes such as chemistry, calcu
lus, physics and biology, and
another four hours doing home
Camp
(Continued from page 1)
She always kept a supply of
sourdough handy, and she'd
make sourdough pancakes over
an open flame.
"It just showed me," Grant
said, "God wants me to take
kids camping."
The camp is funded through
Grant's own contributions,
through donations of $35 from
campers, and from many other
sources,
"There's been everything I
can scratch up into it - dona
tions from estates, from
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work at night. Their progress is
measured by the improvements
students make on a test given
at the beginning and end of the
program. I lardy said.
"They're actually doing this
in their own volition,"
Lonewolf said. "Just by being
here they're wanting to better
their college career and future
in health profession. The ones
that are in re driven are the ones
that seek out these programs,"
Headlands has graduated
over 600 participants since it
began 30 years ago, and 50 per
cent are currently in the medi
cal field or pursuing medical
opportunities, Hardy said. An
other 25 percent have gone on
to college but chose to study
something other than medicine.
The program, funded by the
National Institutes of Health,
pays all expenses for the stu
dents. In addition, they receive
a $500 stipend.
I 'our counselors preside over
the students and also act as tu
tors and resident advisers. The
students stay in a dormitory on
the university's Norman cam
pus. I lardy said between 50 and
75 applicants compete for 17
spots each year.
churches, from people just do
nating, and we just keep having
money," she said.
Attendance at Canyon Ranch
Kids Camp is by invitation only,
but the invitation has always
been open to people from the
reservation, said Grant.
She said this yen s camp sea
son was different because she
started out with new helpers.
"The lady who cooked for 14
years left," she said. "A young
lady who was my associate, sup
posedly, left. And so the first of
this year it was like, 'Oh, now
what do vvc do?'"
One of the new people at the
camp is Judy Barton, who lives
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A
Ceremony honors
rare white buffalo
BAGDAD, Ky. (AP) - A
group of Native Americans held
a ceremony honoring the recent
birth in Shelby County of a
w hite buffalo, considered a rare
and sacred symbol.
The calf, named Medicine
I lean, was born June 3 at Buf
falo Crossing in Shelby County.
Steve McCullough, a Lakota
Shawnee from Indiana, led the
90 minute ceremony on Sunday.
The buffalo's Lakota name is
("ante Pejuta.
"The white buffalo calf is still
very sacred to us today,"
McCullough said. "It's still a part
of our tradition. That's why we
wanted to come when we heard
about her birth."
The white buffalo is tied to
Lakota tradition, which says a
spiritual being known as the
W hite Buffalo Calf Woman
came to the lakota 19 genera
tions ago and bestowed upon
them their beliefs and traditions.
During the ceremony, men
sat around a drum while others
performed prayer songs. At the
end of the ceremony, several of
the 200 spectators tied prayer
flags and other offerings around
in Redmond.
"I call her 'Mrs. Hoof-in-Mouth
Disease' because I met
her down at the creek and got
to visiting about camp and talk
ing about needing a cook, and
she said, 'Oh I can do that,'"
Grant said. "Then she called me
up that night and said, 'I don't
think I can do that,' but here she
is."
, Barton said, "I called and
told Gladys, 'I think I lied. I
don't think I can cook for 50
people.' I said, 'I'll clean your
toilets.' Well, there are outhouses,
so I can't clean toilets."
When the camp is over, the
campers all leave with a me
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the fence to honor the buffalo
calf.
McCullough said other tribes
also believe in the spirituality of
the white buffalo calf.
'This ceremony brings unity,
peace and hope," he said. "It's
for all nationalities red, yellow,
black and white."
Deborah Hennessey of
Jcffcrsonville has attended other
naming ceremonies for white
calves in South Dakota and Ari
zona. "It's all very spiritual to me,"
shc.said. "I feel I'm part Native
American, if not in blood then
in spirit."
The owner of Buffalo Cross
ing, Bob Allen, said Medicine
Heart is the first fully white calf
born there.
The calf is the granddaugh
ter of bull Chief Joseph, a buf
falo Allen said he purchased in
Denver. Chief Joseph was
struck by lightning and died in
2003, Allen said.
Bob Pickering, a white buf
falo expert in Cody, Wyo., said
his research shows the incidence
of white buffaloes at about 16
per million.
mento of their time there. Each
camper's photo is taken on a
digital camera and printed. The
camper then takes the printed
photo and creates a decoupage
pictures on a routed piece of
wood.
Asked to recall the fun things
she and the other girls in her
camp did during their week,
Shawnel Yahtin, 11, said, "The
swimming, and tomorrow,
we're on a boat on Lake
Simtustus."
And that's summer adventure
in the canyon.
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