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CHASTA 76
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MOLALLA November
KALAPUYA !15 1999
ROGUE RIVER ; '
A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe
November 15, 1999
By Brent Merrill
"I wish my grandpa were alive to
see this," said Tribal Lands Special
ist Jan Michael Reibach of the Tribe's
new cultural site. "I remember when
he (Harris Reibach) used to sit me
on his knee and tell me about how
the Tribe was terminated and how
in the 1950's it wasn't cool to be In
dian. He told me how you would
have to go in your back yard to prac
tice anything Native American.
Here we are now, and we have this
site, this beautiful area and I bet he
would just love it down there. The
site isn't hidden. As a matter of fact,
we are showcasing it."
The Tribe's new permanent cul
tural site just west of the Pow-wow
grounds is nearly complete, and will
be home to circle talks, drumming,
naming ceremonies, language teach
ing, story telling, field trips and
sweat lodge ceremonies.
The physical area is a circle in a
continued on page 7
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Elders and Tribal Council hope the area is well-used by tribal members.
Photo by Brent Merrill
Mew changes at clnounc will
help with" paflSeimti: wait time
By Brent Merrill
The Tribe's newly remodeled
health clinic is now designed to be
more efficient at serving patients
and eliminate long patient waits.
According to Clinic Administrator
John Casale, the check-in window
will be remodeled and split into two
windows one for patients with ap
pointments and the other side will
serve walk-in patients.
Casale said the split-window will al
low staff to better serve patients by
eliminating the bottleneck that can
sometimes happen at the window.
New exam rooms are being set up
and remodeled and an Elders' foot
care program and some chiropractic
services will now be available with
the remodel.
Casale seemed proud of the new
remodel and said he hopes the
change will allow staff to better serve
the patients who visit the facility.
"One of our biggest coneerns here
has been that there is just too long
of a patient wait time when people
get here," said Casale. "You would
expect in any type of clinic you go
into that there will be a wait time
for various reasons like a physi
cian is out doing surgery or he had
an emergency at a hospital some
where but our physicians are not
gone for those reasons they are
not gone due to emergencies." .
Casale said there are always going
to be times when a doctor has to take
longer with a patient than initially
scheduled, but he felt there had to
be a way to streamline the process
and improve patient wait times.
"The question I kept asking my
self was 'how come we keep having
these long patient wait times?'" said
Casale. "When we investigated and
actually sat down there and
watched, was that we have an un
usually high percentage of walk-in
patients here in this facility."
After he and his staff looked at the
situation, it became clear that the
community was coming to the clinic
when they didn't feel well and be
cause members knew they could just
walk-in, they weren't calling in for
appointments as frequently as other
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde
Community of Oregon
9615 Grand Ronde Road
Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347
Address Service Requested
PRESORTED
FIRST-CLASS MAIL
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
SALEM, OR
PERMIT NO. 178
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12:99 UNIVERSITY Of OREX.ON
EUGENE OR 9703-1203
communities with similar facilities.
People who come to the clinic for
their annual exam or to have a
simple medical procedure like hav
ing a wart removed or a mole diag
nosed tend to call in and make an
appointment. Casale said when
members don't feel well they come
to the clinic and want to feel better
as soon as possible.
Casale, educated and trained in
the traditional, non-Indian medical
community, said dealing with the
difference in the cultural tendencies
of the community here in Grand
Ronde has been challenging and re
warding. "We can educate people about
what they should schedule appoint
ments for, but we will always have
that high volume of walk-in patients
here and we are prepared for that,"
said Casale. "What I have seen in
the facilities I have been involved
with before and what exists in some
of the other Indian health facilities
we have looked at, is a triage sys
tem that will point people in the di
rection they should be going and get
them helped as soon as possible."
A triage system is set up to give
patients a quick diagnosis of their
problem. A full-time triage nurse will
be at the desk so receptionists aren't
put in a position of having to deter
mine the severity of a patient's con
. dition or medical needs.
According to Casale, the triage sys
tem would streamline the current
patient process and decrease the
wait time. The triage nurse will be
experienced and able to take care of
continued on page 4
gDlMBOfiM)
The Confederated Tribes of the Grand
Ronde Community of Oregon, Natural Re
sources Department, announces three
tribal member meetings to be held on De
cember 1, 2, and 7, 1999. The purpose
of the meetings is to discuss a 10 year
integrated Natural Resources Plan and an
Environmental Assessment. All tribal
members are invited to attend.
Natural Resources will provide infor
mation about its current management ac
tivities on reservation land and solicit com
ments to be included or excluded in the
next Management Plan. Tribal members
are encouraged to provide comments to
the Tribe to be incorporated into the scope
of the Environmental Assessment. Indi
viduals who are not able to attend in per
son may submit written comments to: The
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde,
Natural Resources Department, P.O. Box
10, Grand Ronde, OR 97347.
Tribal members who plan to
attend any of the meetings listed
below are requested to RSVP to
1-800-422-0232, ext. 5522.
WED., DEC. 1 - TIGARD
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Howard Johnson Express Inn
(Pacific Room) 1 1 460 SW Pacific Hwy.
Take 1-5 exit 294 (from either directions
go west on Hwy 99W
THURS., DEC. 2 - SPRINGFIELD
6:30 -8:30 p.m.
Comfort Suites, 969 Kruse Way
Take 1-5 exit 1 95A; go east
TUES., DEC. 7- GRAND RONDE
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Spirit Mountain Casino
(Kalapuya Room B)
27100 SW Salmon River Hwy
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