AUGUST 1, 2002
Smoke Signals 5
Bel Mile's Got Psychology in his Blood
Tribe's Psychiatrist Focuses on "Common Elements" of Experience
, J. 'ft;,.,
By Ron Karten
How to get by in a world that
sometimes is hostile and sometimes
just feels hostile, is the nature of
problems that many of us face, said
the Health and Wellness Center's
Psychiatrist - Dr. John Bellville.
With a practice in McMinnville in
addition to his Monday and
Wednesday hours here at the
Health Clinic, Bellville's patients
may be a cross-cultural mix, but to
these problems and many others,
he looks for answers in the "com
mon elements" of experience.
He has lived and practiced medi
cine in Minneapolis, (he was born
and raised in St. Paul), in Kansas
and in Fairbanks, Alaska and now
in the McMinnville and Grand
Ronde areas. Bellville located in the
West Valley because McMinnville
is home for his wife, Cindy.
In Kansas, Bellville worked at
the respected Karl Menninger
School of Psychiatry - a place, he
said, where they still teach psycho
therapy. He finds it unfortunate
that the HMOs of the world are
drumming psychotherapy out of
the repertoire "as fast as possible."
Psychotherapy, while often effec
tive, takes too long and costs too
much for the quick fix, dollar con
scious world of HMOs.
A down-to-earth guy, Bellville
plays bluegrass music and makes
some of the instruments he plays -fiddles,
mandolins and guitars.
Bellville said he has never before
lived in climate where flowers
bloom in December... outside like
they do in Oregon.
He and Cindy are skiers and
Cindy, with her background in
business management, manages
his private practice in addition to
minding their five kids - ages six
through 13.
"They (his children) are the top
of my priority list."
Psychiatry still faces "a lot of
stigma," said Bellville. "Some people
still think that psychiatrists can read
your mind or have as a goal 'to con
trol your mind with drugs,' but if
Bellville can read minds, he hasn't
discovered that talent yet and when
it comes to drugs, he too sees them
as a problem when they "subdue a
personality."
He acknowledged that there
"may be some truth in back of the
idea" that some drugs are too
heavily prescribed and "turn kids
into zombies. You can give a kid
so much Ritalin that it subdues
their personality," he said.
But because drugs are an impor
tant tool of the psychology trade
these days, Bellville said that when
they're well used, "they help an in
dividual improve the way he pro
cesses information."
The question he asks himself with
regard to patients is, 'How can I get
to know this person the way they
know themselves?'
Bellville was raised in a family
steeped in psychology. Before his
parents passed away, his father
was a psychiatrist and his mother
was a clinical psychologist. His sis
ter still is a psychiatrist. He started
out to be a surgeon, but found the
hierarchy in surgery too "dehu
manizing." It kept young physi
cians working for three days
straight, he said, and the brow
beating behavior was just not for
him, so he kind of fell back on psy
chiatry. He worked for a time with
both his father at a Veterans Ad
ministration hospital and in private
practice with his sister, who is a
child psychiatrist.
"Everybody's dilemma is how to
get by in the face of a less than ideal
system," said Bellville. "Whether
a person adapts to one system or
goes out to find another one more
hospitable is 'a philosophical
choice.' And respecting people's
choices is a good thing to do."
New Public Health Nurse Will Fight Diabetes
Barbara Gundrum has been on the job since April.
By Ron Karten
If Barbara Gundrum, RN, has
her way, Grand Ronde Tribal mem
bers will have a lower incidence of
diabetes in the future and those
afflicted will see a later onset of the
disease.
"There are a lot of things we can
do, but most people still don't know
about them," said Gundrum, the
Tribal Health and Wellness
Center's Public Health Nurse.
Gundrum, the Tribe's newest dia
betes specialist, reports that breast
feeding alone can markedly reduce
the incidence of diabetes for chil
dren later in life. Like a lot of our
chronic and debilitating diseases of
today - heart disease is another ex
ample - diet and exercise also play
an important role in delaying or
preventing the onset of diabetes,
said Gundrum.
With the support of Health Pro
motion Specialist Darlene Aaron
and nutritionist Darcy Trego,
Gundrum provides in-office and
home visit help on a range of dia
betes issues, from eating and exer
cise to foot care and blood sugar
testing.
Today, according to statistics com
piled by the National Institutes of
Health (NIH), Native Americans
are twice as likely (one in eight) to
have diabetes as non-Indians and
three times as likely to die from it.
NIH also reports, however, that if
anything; the statistics under rep
resent the true numbers. For one
thing, in the early stages, diabetes
is another of the "silent" diseases,
like high blood pressure, because
there are no signs of it. As many
as one-third of adults who have dia
betes do not even know it.
Gundrum is a beneficiary of an
Indian Health Service (IHS) grant
through which she received fund
ing to help her through her nurs
ing education and in return, is now
providing two years of service
within an Indian community.
Gundrum is an Aleut of the
Chugach Region in Southern
Alaska and reports a family tree
that incredibly includes both pil-
grims and Indians.
"My grandmother was a
Hinckley," she said. "Which is a link
to the pilgrims and she married a
Kentucky hillbilly, Francis 'Red'
James, who was part Cherokee."
Gundrum's ancestors made their
way to Alaska where the Aleut con
nection began.
Gundrum joined the Wellness
wing of the Tribe's Health and
Wellness Center in April, but she
comes from a past steeped in the
theater. She studied the art at New
York University and performed in
"Three for the Show" Off Broadway
and "Bell, Book, and Candle" Off Off
Broadway. Later, in Portland the
aters, she appeared in productions
of "Hot L Baltimore" and "Hatful of
Rain." And as a volunteer parent,
she directed elementary school stu
dents at St. Mary's Star of the Sea
in Astoria in performances of her
own Christmas play - "The Little
Drummer Boy." Later, she co-wrote
with 7th and 8th graders at the school
a play called "To Die For." She then
directed the children's performance.
Ultimately, she turned to nursing
to provide a better life
for her son, Matt, now
11.
The career switch
was not the easiest
thing to accomplish.
For a time during her
education at Clatsop
Community College,
she not only studied
and provided a home
for Matt, but also
earned money as a
waitress 6 hours a night, four nights
a week.
A poster in her room of four great
Indians, Chief Joseph, Sitting Bull,
Geronimo and Red Cloud hovering
above the presidents carved into
Mt. Rushmore served as her guide
during those days.
"I'd be totally exhausted and look
at them and say, 'If this is what you
want for me, I'll do it,'" she said.
Fortunately, by the time she be
gan her nursing education at Or
egon Health Sciences University,
Indian Health Services funding
provided for her education as well
as a living stipend.
Gundrum works among a team
in the Health and Wellness Center
that provides patients with the lat
est information regarding foot care,
testing for blood sugar levels, and
all the latest thinking on diabetes
prevention. The Wellness Center
team has established a support
group for people with diabetes and
has begun an outreach at the
youngest levels, by teaching health
fundamentals at the community
day care center.
According to nutritionist Darcy
Trego, another staffer dedicated to
working with patients with diabe
tes or at risk for it, good health, ex
ercise and keeping control of blood
sugars are key.
"The risk of diabetes in the Indian
community is just huge," said
Trego.
Simple measures can make a big
difference. A 30-minute walk five
times a week, shedding weight from
5-10 percent and cutting sugar in
take reduces the risk by more than
50-percent," Trego said.
Currently, Gundrum is helping to
build an outreach program that
identifies those in the community
at risk for diabetes. Because he
redity is a big factor for those with
or at risk for diabetes, the plan is to
start by identifying those already
diagnosed with the disease and
reach out to family members to pro
vide information that will prevent
the disease from striking, or delay
onset of the disease.
"The public just doesn't have
enough information about diabe
tes," she said.