E Coosh EEWA: The way it is
Page 4 Spilyay Tymoo March 10, 2021
Letters to the editor
Tribes welcome new W.S. Agency superintendent
Vaccines
Second dose Covid-19
vaccine clinics are scheduled
for this Thursday, March 11
and Friday, March 19 at the
Warm Springs Community
Center.
Covid-19 vaccines are
also now available in Warm
Springs for family members
of Warm Springs 18 and
over, and employees who
work on the reservation.
Call for an appointment
from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., 541-
553-2610.
W.S. Credit
The Warm Springs Tribal
Credit Enterprise would like
to announce: Loan payments
can be made by all credit
cards at the drive thru win-
dow, with the exception of
American Express cards.
Please note the Bank win-
dow hours are 8 a.m. to 5
p.m., closed during the lunch
hour.
Birth
Bexley Seyler
Dustin Seyler and Ardis
Clark of Warm Springs are
pleased to announce the birth
of their son Bexley Seyler,
born on February 27, 2021.
Bexley joins brothers
Fiske, 10, and Cayson, 4; and
sister Calla Dawn, 7.
Grandparents on the
father’s side are Dean and
Jeannie Seyler of Corbett.
Grandparents on the
mother’s side are Dawn
Smith and Frank Knychief
of Warm Springs; and Darryl
Smith of Warm Springs.
Register to vote
An election is coming up
in May that will determine
three positions on the
Jefferson County School Dis-
trict 509-J Board of Direc-
tors, among a number of
other local district boards.
The May 18 election will be
conducted entirely by mail.
The last day to register to
vote will be April 27.
At. St. Charles
At St. Charles Bend, pa-
tient care is proceeding as
normal.
St. Charles Bend techni-
cal workers represented by
the Oregon Federation of
Nurses and Health Profes-
sionals went on strike at last
week for an indefinite period
of time. Representatives
from the hospital and union
are scheduled to meet again
this Wednesday, March 10
with a federal mediator.
St. Charles has engaged
with an outside agency to re-
cruit dozens of highly
skilled replacement workers
who will cover shifts at the
hospital for the duration of
the strike.
For 8th-graders
Warm Springs Academy
eighth-grade student families
can participate this Wednes-
day evening, March 10 in the
Virtual Forecasting and In-
formation Night, 6 to 7 p.m.
This will be a chance to
look ahead to ninth grade next
fall at Madras High School;
and to think about what classes
you will be taking.
Please reach out to the
school if you have had any
changes to your contact
phone number or email ad-
dress so they can make sure
you receive all information.
From IHS
The Indian Health Ser-
vice this month updated its
coronavirus data for cases
across Indian Country.
According to the most
recent data: IHS has admin-
istered 2.1 million Covid-19
tests to its service areas
members.
Of the total, 187,073
tests have returned positive
for coronavirus.
As of early March, that
represents an increase of 0.1
percent from late in Febru-
ary.
Since October of last
year, the IHS has been pro-
viding additional informa-
tion about the spread of the
coronavirus within the sys-
tem.
The cumulative percent
positive column shows the
historical Covid-19 infection
rate, meaning the number of
tests that have returned posi-
tive since the onset of the
pandemic.
Based on the cumulative
percent positive, the highest
rates have been seen in three
areas: Navajo Area at 16.7
percent; Phoenix Area, 14.2
percent; and Oklahoma City
Area, 13.4 percent.
In recent weeks, the Cali-
fornia Area, Great Plains
Area, and Oklahoma Area
jalso showed higher than av-
erage increases.
Overall in Indian Coun-
try, 9.6 percent of IHS tests
have been positive since the
onset of the pandemic, the
data shows.
I
would like to intro-
duce the newest member
of our team, BIA Warm
Springs Agency Superin-
tendent Brenda Bremner.
Brenda started last
week here at the Agency,
allowing me to transition
out of the acting superin-
tendent role. Please allow
me introduce Ms. Brenda
Bremner:
She is an enrolled mem-
ber of the Confederated
Tribes of Siletz Indians;
and most recently was the
general manager of the
Siletz tribes—a position
she held that position for
for over 20 years.
In that role she led and
managed tribal govern-
ment operations by direct-
ing management teams
and oversight of opera-
tions including budgets
Community
notes...
The Warm Springs Com-
modities Program is located
in the Warm Springs Indus-
trial Park. They offer food
like: cereal, fresh fruit and
produce, canned fruit and
veggies, pasta, meat, eggs,
juice and cheese.
You do need to meet eli-
gibility requirements to
qualify for commodities.
Call 541-53-3422 for details,
or check out the War m
Springs
Commodities
Facebook page for updates:
facebook.com/wscommods
The War m Springs
Johnson O’Malley com-
mittee asks families with stu-
dents 3-years-old through
twelfth grade in the
Jefferson County 509-J or
South Wasco County School
Districts, who are enrolled in
a federally recognized tribe,
to complete the annual
Johnson O’Malley survey
and enrollment forms. The
Publisher Emeritus in Memorium: Sid Miller
Editor: Dave McMechan
Spilyay Tymoo is published bi-weekly by the
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Our of-
fices are located at 4174 Highway 3 in Warm
Springs.
Any written materials submitted to Spilyay Tymoo
should be addressed to:
Spilyay Tymoo, P.O. Box 489, Warm Springs, OR
97761.
Phone: 541-553-2210 or 541-771-7521
E-Mail: david.mcmechan@wstribes.org.
Annual Subscription rates: Within U.S.: $20.00
and service provision for the
tribe.
More specifically, she was
responsible for oversight of
administration, mainte-
nance, education, culture,
social services, the Indian
Child Welfare Act planning,
natural resources, housing,
community Health, and
three satellite tribal offices.
In her role as Siletz gen-
eral manager, Brenda man-
aged programs serving the
been a foster parent for
over 30 years, has eight
children ages 27 to 4, and
a partner of 30 years.
Brenda received her
Bachelor of Science in
Physical Education from
the College of Great Falls
in Great Falls, Montana.
Her ties to Montana
are very strong, as her
father Cecil was an en-
rolled member of the
Blackfeet Nation, and
also a contracting officer
in the then-Portland Area
Office.
Please help me in wel-
coming our newest mem-
ber to the superintendent
ranks, Ms. Brenda
Bremner.
We l c o m e
Brenda!
Body Shaw, North-
west Region, Bureau of
Indian Affairs.
New superintendent for school district
The Jefferson County
School District 509-J
Board of Directors has
named Dr. Jay Mathisen
as the new superintendent
of the district.
Dr. Mathisen currently
serves as Director of Edu-
cational Leadership at
George Fox University.
His first day with 509-J will
ben July 1.
The school board con-
ducted a months-long
search for a new superin-
tendent, following the an-
nounced retirement of
current superindent Ken
Parshall.
The final three candi-
dates met with district fami-
lies last week at the Per-
forming Arts Center, and
online.
The district had also
surveyed families about
the priority qualities in the
new superindent. The
school board then made
the hiring decision late last
week.
School board mem-
bers would like to thank
all of the staff, students,
parents and community
members for their par-
ticipation in the inter-
view process, and for
providing valuable feed-
back on each of our fi-
nalists.
financial assistance form is
now available.
You can find is on
kwso.org in the ‘News and
Info’ tab under opportuni-
ties. If you have questions,
contact Carroll Dick at 541-
553-3311.
The Madras High School
girls basketball team is
planning for their season in
May and June this year.
With that, they are starting
to fund raise.
They have opened up their
online Fan Clothing Store for
fans and players.
Every time a player sells
an item, a percentage of the
sale goes to the team. To
learn more you can contact
Jerin Say at email:
jsay@509j.net
Or call 541-777-7904.
Dr. Jay Mathisen
StrongHearts Native Helpline markes its fourth year serving Indian Country
The StrongHearts Native
Helpline this month cel-
ebrates its Fourth Anniver-
sary in operation. Despite the
unprecedented hardships of
2020, the team at
StrongHearts grew in num-
ber and strength, and added
many advocacy services to
help Native Americans af-
fected by domestic, dating
and sexual violence.
2020 in review
Over the past 12 months,
the pandemic destabilized the
work environment just as
StrongHearts
Native
Helpline advocates began to
Spilyay Tymoo
(Coyote News, Est. 1976)
Brenda Bremner
Native American popula-
tion in an 11-county service
area targeting the Siletz tribal
members, which includes
over 5,000 in number.
She coordinated imple-
mentation of self-gover-
nance compacts, 638 con-
tracts, grants and special
projects to increase and ex-
pand programs for en-
hanced services provided to
tribal populations.
Of note, Ms. Bremner
has taught physical educa-
tion and health to grades 9
through 12; and was also a
volunteer coach in the com-
munity for youth basketball
for over 15 years.
Brenda has also volun-
teered for many civic and
community activities includ-
ing event coordination, grant
writing, and fundraising for
charitable groups. She has
Warm Springs
Holistic Health
The Warm Springs
Holistic Health Center
provides
physical
therapy and acupunc-
ture care in War m
Springs with a focus on
compassion, integrity,
and full-body wellness.
You can contact
them at 541-777-2663.
This week you can
find their latest video on
their YouTube page or
the article on the Spilyay
website, wsnews.org
gear up and increase advo-
cacy.
The pandemic created
an urgency to meet the
needs of Native Americans
and Alaska Natives who al-
ready suffer the highest
rates of domestic, dating
and sexual violence in the
United States.
“Not only did we meet
our goals and deadlines, but
we also navigated through
the
pandemic
by
transitioning into a fully re-
mote operation,” said
StrongHearts director Lori
Jump, of the Sault Ste. Marie
Tribe of Chippewa Indians.
“The team at StrongHearts
demonstrated an unwaver-
ing commitment to provide
culturally-appropriate advo-
cacy to victim-sur vivors
across the nation.”
By the numbers
In 2020, StrongHearts
advocates answered 3,074
calls and held 406 online
chats. The types of abuse
disclosed by Native intimate
partner violence victims are
broken down into six catego-
ries and listed here in order
of prevalence:
Emotional abuse, 87 per-
cent of calls.
Physical abuse, 78 percent.
Financial abuse, 31 per-
cent.
Digital abuse, 19 percent.
Sexual abuse, 19 percent.
Cultural abuse, 10 percent.
The StrongHearts Native
Helpline is a 24/7 culturally-
appropriate domestic, dating
and sexual violence helpline
for Native Americans, avail-
able by calling 1-844-762-
8483 or clicking on the Chat
Now icon at:
stronheartshelpline.org