September 7, 1996
SMOKE SIGNALS
5
Band-Aid Brief
Sponsored by the Tribal Clinic: Glenn A. Gerritz, M.D.; Donna Breneman, F.N.P.;
Darlene Lagoy, C.N.A.; and Sharon Herrin, C.N.A.
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Please make clinic appointments now for:
1) back to school physicals
2) sports physicals
3) immunization updates
Be sure to bring your personal immuniza
tion records when coming to the clinic. Be
low is a recommended schedule approved by the American
Academy of Pediatrics. You would be able to tell which
immunizations are needed by comparing your personal
record with the chart below. Children over the age of five
and adults need DT injections (tetanus) every ten years. If
there is an injury that breaks the skin, tetanus should be re
ported if last dose was given greater than five years ago.
Remember that those exposed to hepatitis A need to get
gammaglobulia injections as soon as possible after exposure.
Patients over 65 need to get flu injections and pneumonia
vaccine in November of each year. Adults under the age of
65 with chronic heart disease, diabetes, lung disease and
kidney disease need to get above vaccines also.
Tuberculosis: Tuberculosis is transmitted by droplets
from an infected person coughing, sneezing, or talking loudly
to another person usually in close quarters. Recently, sev
eral Grand Ronde tribal members have turned positive to
tuberculosis skin-testing. A positive skin test docs not nec
essarily mean that you have been exposed to someone with
tuberculosis. We request that everybody with a new posi
tive skin test have a chest x-ray to rule out active disease.
Tribal members and employees who develop a positive
skin test need to be treated with isoniazid (INH) to prevent
active disease from occurring.
Tuberculosis is on the rise in our country and malnutri
tion, alcoholism, drug addiction and HIV positivity increase
the risk of getting tuberculosis.
Please call the health clinic about questions concerning
tuberculosis 879-2002 or 1 -800-775-0095. We do skin test
ing from 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. in the Tribal Clinic on week
days. Employees whose risk of exposure to tuberculosis is
greater, need a skin test every six months. Others need a
skin test annually.
Prevention is a vital part in ensuring a healthy commu
nity. Please participate in our vaccine programs. Also re
member that tuberculosis is coming back. In the 1930's
tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in our middle
aged productive population.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule
a9e I birth I 2 I 4 I 6 I 12 I 15 I 18 I 4-6 I11-12I14-I6
T VaCCine months months months months5 months5 months years years years
, HepB - . I I I .
hepatitis B p HepB ' hHepB
diphtheria2 1 DTp 1 DTp
tetanus DTP DTP DTP Td
pertussis DTaP if 15 mo. DTaP T
H. Influenzae Hjb Hib Hib b j
type b3 ' -y '
polio opv opv I opv 1 opv
measles4
mumps I MMR MMR or MMR
rubella I
Vaccines are listed under the routinely recommended ages. Shaded bars indicated range of acceptable ages for vaccination.
Read all footnotes carefully (detailed on back).
Conference attendees will be able to learn about
the latest development in hearing aids, assistive lis
tening devices, cochlear implants, tinnitus, and tele
communications. There will be seminars on effec
tive coping strategies people can put to work with
their family, friends, and co-workers.
Speakers include Donna Sorkin, Executive Direc
tor of SHHH National; Rocky Stone, founder of
SHHH National; Dr. Sam Trychin, Dr. George A.
Gates, and Thomas S. Rees.
The schedule for the conference includes exhib
its areas with the latest equipment available for
improving hearing. For more information on the
conference call (541 ) 689-7242.
The conference will be held at the Monarch Ho
tel and Conference Center and is sponsored by the
Self Help for Hard of Hearing People of Lane County
(SHHH). For reservations call 1-800-492-8700. .
( j m
Brian Coburn brings
humor to TFAP
By Chris Mercier
"Do you know my
cousin James?"
We arc sitting in the
conference room of the
TFAP building, myself
having been assigned to
cover a story requested
by Mychal Lcno to wel
come yet another Native
person into the Tribe. In
deed, Brian Coburn is a
full-fledged Native
American, but his blood is that of the Haida, an Alaskan
tribe, and not of local origin. Yet he acts with the case and
humor of any Grand Ronde insider (we do not take our
selves too seriously). He cracks that joke mid-intcrvicw,
and convincingly insists that it is true, while Mychal and I
look at each other briefly with surprised expressions, stu
pidly believing him for a few seconds. The ruse is up when
he laughs.
Such moments, Mychal assures me, arc very common
when working with Brian, the latest addition, as a Case
Worker to the Tribal Family Action Program. Although he
has been working at TFAP for only a month, the camarade
rie between the two is equivalent to that of old college bud
dies. The levity is very appropriate, to be honest, as Brian
was also brought on to help ease the burden of what is an
extremely difficult job.
Although it is a social service, Mychal and Brain prefer
to not think of themselves as Social Service workers. What
they are in actuality is the center of a highly elaborate pro
cess. Custody fights, foster care, investigations, unstable
households, etc. just about every issue dealing with In
dian child welfare is what the case workers are required to
work with. They are, as Mychal puts it "the people who tie
everything together. " Although TFAP has a number of work
ers who specialize in the specifics, the job still has its im
perfections, notably a heavy workload. Clients are gener
ally worked with for one or two years, and cases can come
in at any time. Naturally, such a position can take its toll on
an individual.
Enter Brian Coburn.
Brian graduated from the University of Oregon in 1991,
having completed his Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, with
a minor in English. Portland State was his next destination,
where he pursued his Master's Degree in Social Work, em
phasis on direct human social work, and attained that in 1 995.
Mychal discovered him in her search for somebody to form
a job share with.
'Fessing up, Mychal claims she had concerns as to the ciTcct
of two workers splitting time on the same case, especially
should they not see eye to eye. Perhaps it would detract from
work on the cases. That problem hasn't materialized.
The job share has Brian working on Monday, Wednes
day, and Friday; and Mychal on Tuesday, Wednesday, and
Thursday. They meet on Wednesdays to discuss cases, mak
ing sure that neither one is handling the case differently. In
a sense they are guardian angels, to each other and to the
children they work with. They laugh when I say this to them,
but agree that it is not far from the truth. TFAP was lucky to
catch him, as he was entertaining an offer from a Portland
based company. His devotion to Native peoples is what
brought him here, and he has not regretted it since.
He does, incidently, have an Indian name. Gitkun. "What
does it mean?" I ask.
"I don't know. Its too complicated."