Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
June 30, 2021
New policy for Indian boarding schools
During her remarks at the Na-
tional Congress of American In-
dians’ Virtual Mid-Year Conven-
tion, Secretary of the Interior Deb
Haaland announced a Federal In-
dian Boarding School Initiative.
The announcement was accom-
panied by a secretarial memo that
directs the Department of Inte-
rior to prepare a comprehensive
report of the available historical
records, emphasizing cemeteries or
potential burial sites relating to the
federal boarding school program.
Tribal leaders across the North-
west support and applaud the ini-
tiative as a step toward reconcil-
ing a troubled legacy that exacer-
bated the generational trauma that
has had devastating impacts on
every tribe across Indian Country.
“We welcome Secretary
Haaland’s plan to investigate and
fully disclose the tragic legacy of
Indian Boarding Schools within
Indian Country. The devastating
impacts of this legacy are felt by
relatives throughout North
America and are very much a part
of our history here in the Pacific
Northwest,” said Leonard
Forsman, ATNI President and
Chair man of the Suquamish
Tribe.
“Despite the pain and trauma
that this issue triggers among our
peoples, ATNI supports Interior’s
plan to investigate the history of
U.S. policies of assimilation and to
determine steps aimed at healing
our collective spirit.”
The announcement followed the
recent discovery of 215 unmarked
graves by Canada’s Tk’emlúps te
Secwepemc First Nation at the
Kamloops Indian Residential
School. The discovery prompted
national mourning and outcry by
Indigenous communities across
Canada and the United States to
reckon, acknowledge, and heal
from the detrimental impacts of
these policies and the institutions
designed to destroy culture, iden-
tity, and communities in the name
of assimilation.
“As young children, so many of
our people were subjected to in-
humane and horrific treatment to
exterminate all that was Indian in
us. In addition to being forcibly re-
moved from our families and our
communities, so many Indian
people have the shared history of
having our long hair cut, our bod-
ies washed with lye, and being bru-
tally beaten for speaking our Na-
tive language and practicing our
cultural ways,” states Patricia
Whitefoot (Yakama Nation),
ATNI Education Committee
Chair. “Now is the time for our
stories of resilience and trauma to
be told and to reclaim those young
relatives that never made it home
to their families. Reconciliation and
healing are vital to the health and
future of Indian Country.”
The United States enacted laws
and implemented racist, assimila-
tionist policies that established and
supported Indian boarding schools
across the country. The schools were
designed with the sole intent of cul-
turally assimilating Indigenous chil-
dren by forcibly relocating them
from their families and communi-
ties to distant residential facilities
where their American Indian, Alaska
Native, and Native Hawaiian iden-
tities, languages, and beliefs were to
be forcibly suppressed.
In light of announcement at
ATNI, Secretary Haaland’s memo
notes the unique role and position
of the Department of the Interior
to address the detrimental impact
of Indian boarding schools and their
inter-generational traumas that ex-
ist today.
For more than a century, the
department was responsible for op-
erating or overseeing Indian board-
ing schools across the United States
and its territories. The department
is therefore uniquely positioned to
assist in the effort to recover the
histories of these institutions. While
it may be difficult to learn of the
traumas suffered in the boarding
school era, understanding its im-
pacts on communities today cannot
occur without acknowledging that
painful history. Only by acknowl-
edging the past can we work toward
a future we are all proud to em-
brace.
Employment in the Central Oregon region
Job estimates for May reveal a
slowdown in hiring across the Cen-
tral Oregon region. All three coun-
ties appear to have under-per-
formed normal seasonal expecta-
tions.
Jefferson County (including the
reservation): The seasonally ad-
justed unemployment rate was 6.9
percent in May, up slightly from
6.6 percent in April.
The unemployment rate re-
mains higher than before the first
impacts from Covid-19 in Febru-
ary-March 2020, when it was 4.1
percent.
Despite slower gains the past
few months, total nonfarm employ-
ment is only down around 1.1 per-
cent, or 80 jobs, from the pre-
Covid-19 peak from February
2020.
Crook County: The seasonally
adjusted unemployment rate was
7.5 percent in May, little changed
from 7.4 percent in April. The un-
employment rate remains higher
than before the first impacts from
covid, when it was 4.4 percent.
Deschutes County (Bend-
Redmond): The seasonally adjusted
unemployment rate was little
changed at 6.2 percent in May
compared with 6.3 percent in April.
The unemployment rate remains
higher than before the first impacts
from covid, when it was 3.3 per-
cent.
In the regeion, hiring demand,
as measured by online help
wanted ads, was at record levels
in May.
Blood pressure: What exactly is it? Holistic Health explains
by Alicia Oberholzer
Physical Therapist
W.S. Holistic Health
Blood pressure refers to the
force of the blood against the walls
of the arteries.
How is blood pressure mea-
sured?
Blood pressure is measured
with a specialized cuff, most com-
monly placed around the wrist or
upper arm. The measurement in-
cludes a top number and a bottom
number.
The top number is the systolic
blood pressure, meaning the
pressure of the blood against
the arteries as the heart beats.
The bottom number is the
diastolic blood pressure, or
the pressure of the blood
against the arteries when the heart
is relaxed.
What is a normal blood pres-
sure?
According to the American
Heart Association, a normal blood
pressure is less than 120/80.
What factors can increase
the risk of high blood pres-
sure?
Stress. Diet high in salt.
Family history of high blood
pressure.
Obesity. Lack of exercise.
Smoking. Heavy alcohol consump-
tion.
Underlying medical conditions
including sleep apnea, diabetes, or
kidney disease.
Lifestyle changes that can
help to lower blood pressure:
Current guidelines recommend
150 minutes of moderate inten-
sity aerobic exercise per week. This
could be 30 minutes per day, five
days per week. Examples include
walking, biking, rowing, running, or
the elliptical.
If you have a history of medi-
cal issues, it is recommended to
talk to your doctor before begin-
ning a new exercise program.
Manage stress through relax-
ation techniques. Some good op-
tions would be reading, journaling,
yoga, meditating, crafting, or a
warm bath.
Eat a nutritious diet lower in
salt. Focus on whole foods includ-
ing fruits and vegetables. Reach out
to a nutritionist if you need addi-
tional information, accountability,
or support.
Reduce alcohol intake. Quit
smoking.
If you have more questions
about blood pressure, please talk
to your medical doctor or reach
out to one of the Physical Thera-
pists at Warm Springs Holistic
Health for more information.
Call 541-777-2663.
Page 5
Zone 6 commercial fisheries
The second zone 6 tribal commercial summer season fishery
has been set. The season is from present through this Thursday,
July 1 at 6 p.m. This is followed by a season from 6 a.m. on
Monday, July 5 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 8.
The open area is all of zone 6. Allowed gear is set and drift
gillnets with an 7-inch minimum mesh restriction. Allowed sales
are salmon, steelhead, shad, yellow perch, bass, walleye, catfish
and carp.
Sturgeon may not be sold but may be kept for subsistence use.
Size limits are 38 to 54 inches fork length in the Bonneville Pool,
and 43 to 54 inches fork length in The Dalles and John Day pools.
River mouth and dam closed areas applicable to gillnets are in
effect. The Spring Creek National Fish Hatchery closed area is
not in effect during the summer management period.
For more information call the Fishing and Hunting Hotline,
541-553-2000.
A legacy of boarding schools
In Canada last month the dis-
covery of 215 unmarked graves at
Kamloops Indian Residential
School brought past indigenous
traumas into the international spot-
light. Then a short time later more
than 700 unmarked graves were
found on the grounds of the
former Marieval Indian Residen-
tial School in Canada.
Boarding schools and residential
schools are an often tragic thread
in history that the United States and
Canada share:
The United States Govern-
ment Indian Boarding School
Policy authorized the forced re-
moval of hundreds of thousands
of Native children, as young as 5
years old, relocating them from
their homes in tribal communities
to one of the 367 Indian Board-
ing Schools across 30 States. Be-
tween 1869 and the 1960s, the
United States federal government
took Native children from their
families as a means to weaken
indigenous identities, beliefs, and
traditional languages to assimilate
them into White American culture
through federally funded Chris-
tian-run schools.
Last week the National Council
of Urban Indian Health Chief Ex-
ecutive Officer Francys Crevier
(Algonquin) released the following
statement in response to these re-
cent discoveries:
“I am devastated to hear the dis-
covery of mass graves of our chil-
dren, but tragically, I am not sur-
prised. The National Council of
Urban Indian Health exists because
of the historic oppression like this
that forced relocation of our people
by the United States (and Canadian)
governments, which included rip-
ping our children from their fami-
lies and placing them in federally
funded boarding schools in their
attempt to “kill the Indian, save the
man.”
Indian Country’s social determi-
nants of health demonstrate the
connection to the historical trauma
inflicted by these governments that
caused tremendous health conse-
quences for our people—most re-
cently with the Covid-19 pandemic
taking the lives of many of our rela-
tives. At NCUIH, we are charged
with holding the US government to
its trust and treaty responsibility of
providing health care for all Native
people.
“The atrocities Native children
experienced during the boarding
school era are marked by years of
pain as Indigenous communities
were forced to suffer in silence.”
Deep dive into the hip joint with
Warm Springs Holistic Health
by Alicia Oberholzer
Physical Therapist
W.S. Holistic Health
The hip joint is what connects
the femur—the upper leg bone—
to the pelvis. It is referred to as a
ball-in-socket joint.
The ball portion is the top of
the femur and the socket is a cup
shaped structure on the outside of
the pelvis called the acetabulum.
This connection is key in stability,
weight bearing, standing, and walk-
ing.
The hip joint allows for six dif-
ferent motions which are carried
out by various muscles. Some
muscles even perform more than
one movement.
Flexion: This is moving the leg
forward in a kicking motion. In-
volved muscles are mostly on the
front of the hip and include iliop-
soas, rectus femoris, sartorius and
pectineus.
Extension: This is the action
of moving the leg behind the body.
Muscles that facilitate extension are
on the back side of the hip and
include the gluteus maximus and
the hamstrings.
Abduction: This motion of the
leg is out to the side, away from
the body. Muscles on the outside
of the hip carry out this movement
and include the gluteus medius, glu-
teus minimus, piriformis, and ten-
sor fascia latae.
Adduction: Adduction means
moving the leg in towards the mid-
line of the body. Muscles involved
include the adductor g roup,
pectineus, and gracilis.
Internal rotation: This is the
action of rotating the leg in towards
your midline. Muscles involved in-
clude the gluteus medius, gluteus
minimus, and tensor fascia latae.
External rotation: External ro-
tation means rotating the leg out
away from your body. Muscles that
facilitate this movement include glu-
teus maximus, biceps femoris, piri-
formis, obturators, gemelli, and
quadratus femoris.
Hip exercise of the week:
Bridge
This exercise primarily calls upon
muscles from the core and hips.
Hip muscles that are active during
this exercise include the gluteus
maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus
minimus, and hamstrings.
To perform, start by lying on
your back with your knees bent.
Feet should be about hip width
apart. Tighten your abdominal
muscles. Slightly lift your toes so
that you are pushing into the ground
with your heels.
Next, raise your hips up towards
the ceiling while squeezing your
glutes. Ideally, you should be able
to draw a straight line from your
shoulder to your knee when your
hips are elevated. Slowly lower and
repeat.
Variations: To make the exer-
cise more difficult, try longer
holds, placing a looped exercise
band just above your knees, plac-
ing a weight across the front of
your pelvis, or lifting with one leg
only while the other stays com-
pletely straight.
For more information about the
hip, please feel free to reach out to
the Physical Therapy Team at Warm
Springs Holistic Health for more
information. Call 541-777-2663.