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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (July 19, 2007)
News from Indian Country Page 9 SpilyayTymoo July 19, 2007 W ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊtÊÊM Ancient methods supplement health care T he soldiers, w ho are p art o f A N C H O R A G E , A lask a (AP)—A ncient Alaska Native th e la rg e st A laska N a tio n a l healing te c h n iq u e s, will soon G uard deployment since World supplement m odern-day treat War II, have been gone for al m ents fo i m ental h ealth ail m ost a year. T he unit represents m ents afflicting A laskans r e 81 different comm unities and tu rn in g fro m service in th e more than a half dozen cultures, Middle East. inclu d in g E sk im o s, T lingits, Many Alaska National Guard Haidas, Aleuts and Athabascans. I t can be easy f o r people soldiers come from isolated vil lages. Few have doctors; fewer yet w hose lives have been so dis have mental health professionals. rupted to slip into depression, So traditional healers like alcoholism o r crime. ‘W e need Kenny Timberwolf will use talk to have a healing process that have/ la b e ls,” ing circles, steam houses and d o e s n ’t subsistence hunts to help Native T imberw olf said. N ative healing m ethods— soldiers relieve their stres s. “Honoring them and welcom ranging from placing hands on ing them home as a veteran isn’t a person’s body in a therapeutic enough,” said Kenny Timberwolf touch to participating in Native jan Alaska Native shaman. “It has songs and dances— can do that, to go a lot deeper” ., said traditional healing tribal Tim berwolf said like others, d o c to r Lisa D olchok, o f the som e Native veterans will have Alaska Native Medical Center. They are part o f the holistic problems, readjusting to life at ¡home w hen they return in O c approach thatis a common thread tober, and Bush communities, to trad itio n al healing, w hich because o f their extreme isola teaches people that they are re tion, need to start preparing now sponsible for their own recovery. to r their arrival. “T raditional healing fo r us “T hat lingering feeling o f be in:this state is th e no rm , and ing in com bat is going to be. W estern m edicine is new to us,” she said. th etb /’ he said. Talking circles and other tra ditional counseling techniques are the most accessible options for many returning soldiers because o f the extended families found in many villages, said Dr. Ted Mala, director o f the center’s Traditional Healing Program. “I think there are many dif ferent roads to health,” he said. “Traditional healing is important because w e take th e healing that’s come from our ancestors and hand it down.” O n the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, an area the size o f Oregon, 109 Guardsmen from 25 villages were deployed last October with the Alaska National Guard’s 3rd Battalion, 297th Infantry. “W e’re p re p a rin g fo r o u r troops to come hom e with our existing staffing and funding,” said Danielle DiZon, a spokes w o m a n fo r th e Y u kon- Kuskokwim Health Corp. “It’s such a massive area, we can only provide so much.’’:- There are 25 tribal health cen ters across the state. Only about half o f them have doctors, said Chris Mandregan, Alaska area di rector for the Indian Health Ser Creek name change considered after complaints ■ C ED A R RAPIDS, Iowa (AP)^—-Linn County conserva tio n officials will consider whether to change the name o f Squaw Creek and Squaw Creek Pads after receiving a complaint from som eone w ho was of fended by the use o f the word “squaw”.,., y t Craig« «Van/jB erkuraa-iy«a n American Indian from Las Ve gas, wrote a letter to county of ficials a few weeks ago saying he was attending fa family function at the park and was surprised to see that it was at a place called Squaw Creek Park, s.aid D ennis Goemaat, d’e puty county conservation director. H e said Van Berkum, who once lived in Pella, said he found the name offensive. Goemaat said his office re ceives about one complaint a year about the name o f the park and creek T he county conservation board will consider changing. the name at a meeting on Mon-«« day, he said/ 1 i; . “We want the board to be aware o f the recent letter and get some sense o f how to ap p ro ach it,” G o em aat said. “F rom the standpoint th at parks should be inviting to ev erybody, we are serious about i t ’’ vice, a government agency. The rest make due with midlevel pro viders: physician’s assistants and nurse practitioners. • There are 176 small villages across the state that have clinics, he said, but those are staffed by people who complete at least oiie six-week training course in basic medical care, similar to an EMT. Behavioral health aides are be ginning to show up in some vil lages, but services remain limited. “Recruitment and retention is very, very difficult ill some o f these areas,” Mandregan said. Partly for those reasons, his organization tries to incorporate traditional healing practices-— acupuncture, steam houses, ma n ip u la tio n o f join ts, prayer, smudging and healing herbs— in to co n tem p o rary m edicine where possibly he said. 1 Mandregan said he thought traditional healing could be o f particular use because some N a tives remain distrustfulof West ern medicine, he said. “They’re nervous about it, and they’ll often consult with a tribal healer first,” he said. Western Shoshone leader dies at 87 REN O , Nev. (AP) — Corbin Harney, a spiritual leader o f the Western Shoshone w ho challenged the federal govern m ent — and once his own tribe — to oppose nuclear weapons on aboriginal land has died at tiie age o f 87. Harney, a fixture at anti-nuclear rallies, died Tuesday o f complications from cancer near Santa Rosa, Calif., where he had hoped to finish a book, according to his family. “We have truly lost à lot,” said his nephew, Santiago Lozada, w ho was w ith him w hen he died, “Corbin was a World War II veteran and was known around the world for his activism against radioactivity , and nuclear weapons,” said R obert Hager, Reno-baSed lawyer for the Western Shoshone tribe. “H e's irreplaceable to the Western Shoshone nation.”. “H e was som eone w ho just had this gentle spirit b u t a steely resolve that people should dô thé right thing,” H ager said. H ager recalled that Harney bucked his own tribe when the federal governm ent in the 1950s unearthed remains o f Western Shoshone ancestors during digging for nuclear test ing at the N evada Test Site north o f Las Vegas. “H e picked up the remains and gave them a decent burial,” H ager said. “H e took a lot o f flack from Western Shoshone leaders w ho said he should have nothing to do w ith the U.S. government. But I always respected Corbin for doing what, to the Western Shoshone, was n o t politically correct b u t in his m ind was the right thing to do.” Ian Zabârte, secretary o f state for the W estern Shoshone National Council, said H arney “was always steadfast in try ing to prevent the proliferation o f nuclear weapons and guard the people against the threats that nuclear technology poses." Alcohol ban mostly lifted for North American Indian Days B R O W N IN G , M o n t. (AP)— T he Blacjkfeet Tribe’s ban o n alcohol sales during N o r th A m e ric a n In d ia n Days, in effect since 1999, has been mostly lifted, pleasing som e business ow ners b u t stunning tribal substance- a b u se c o u n s e lo rs w ho pushed for the alcohol ban. tto ffFibas* ?sdts iue baekfabciut 10 y ears,” |S a id 1' H e rm a n Whitegrass, counselor at the C rystal C reek L odge, th e tribe’s chemical dependency center.- C o u n c ilm a n Rodney- Gervais said bars, restaurants, lodges and the Glacier Peaks casino will be allowed to. sell alcohol o n site during the four-day powwow, which starts Thursday, v “I ’ve heard a lo t o f negative com m ents a b o u t1 the alcohol ban, so this w ould. be a very w e lc o m e th in g ,” .said W alt Kochansky, general manager o f the St. Mary Lodge and Resort. Selling packaged alcohol will be allowed from. 6 p.m.. until 2 ^.m^frtServais^aidl ' i “But- our cultural areas are completely o ff limits to any al cohol, and that includes the In dian e n cam p m en t,” G ervais said. “ We’ve hired 40 additional security (guards) to enforce it on the campgrounds.” Jtine Tatsey was one who lob bied for the alcohol ban during the four-day event, which includes drum and dance conteste and tra ditional sporting competitions. “We w anted safety o n our reservation for our youth,” she said Tuesday. “We had auto ac cidents for five weekends in a row that were killing our teen agers/’. f T he first alcohol-free pow wow was held in 1999 and court statistics sùggested the ban was1 effective in deterring crime, with fewer citations for open contain ers, disorderly conduct arid pub lic intoxication than the previ ous year. G ervais said th e business council looked at different sta- tistics. ‘W e found that the death rate goes up by 8.8 percent, accidents go up, and the suicides go up by 47 percent on dry reser vations,” he said. D arrell N orm an, ow ner o f the Lodgepole Gallery in Browning, said the business council has been under a lot o f pressure to change the law. . “P eople said- you could drive to E ast Glaciers or-co1 C ut B ank to g et alcohol, w hich only leads to m ore drunks on our highways,” he said. Gervais said the ban on selling alcohol on the reser vation during N o rth Ameri can In d ia n .D ays sim p ly didn’t work. cult’s Repair & into Sales Free towing w/engine or trans replacement from Warm Springs & Madras area Approved Auto Repair Free Battery Check & Installation with purchase 475-6618 330 S.W. Culver Hwy. Madras, OR 97741 U ? 11 ■tomai I 1
