Smoke signals., February 01, 2013, Page 5, Image 5

Smoke Signals 5
FEBRUARY 1,2013
VIDEO continued
from front page
the community tells you what they
think is important."
Among Elders consulted, Empey
selected two Tribal leaders.
"It's always been a pet peeve of
mine to hire professionals that
come in with their ideas, implement
what their priorities are rather
than finding out what the Tribe's
priorities are," said Tribal Council
member Cheryle A. Kennedy.
Empey's project took Kennedy
back to the early days of Restora
tion when Kennedy was involved in
developing health and social service
programs for the Tribe.
The prevailing health care pic
ture, long before Tribes were rou
tinely consulted, left many Tribal
members preferring not to have any
state-sanctioned health care at all.
"We had a population that had
gone without health care for 30
years," Kennedy said. "When we
were terminated, our members
were not comfortable receiving
services from the state because
there were many negative associ
ated impacts. You opened yourself
up to be scrutinized by the agency
and others with biases about Na
tive Americans.
"As a result, (the old health care
model) was used as a foothold to
take their children. If you look at
that era, many families lost their
children. They were adopted out
and all of that, so folks did not want
to do that."
In response, the Tribe went to
Tribal members to find out what
they wanted. After that, Kennedy
thought, "Well, I know that we'll
.'il
I
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Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Fifth- and sixth-grade Tribal youth who produced a video about obesity In
the community view the finished product for the first time at Youth Education
on Tuesday, Jan. 1 5. The clip includes Makenzie Aaron, left, and Tara
Thorsgard working out in the Tribal weight room.
develop a program that addresses
the current issues, but we need
to get ahead of that, and prevent
things from re-occurring."
For much of the Tribal community,
it already is too late to prevent obe
sity, but strategies are similar for
reducing obesity and preventing it.
For the project, students made
a short video with some of their
ideas: vending machines with
healthy snacks, exercising and
drinking lots of water. These ideas
are interspersed in the video with
factoids that include Native Ameri
cans have the highest percentage of
obesity and Tribal gym hours.
"Youth Fighting Obesity" showed
students on gym exercise machines
and included a roll of blooper out-
life'' ' '
r
4- 4
1 f
takes that the students wanted to
see twice during the first showing
of the video.
The video was written and di
rected by Tribal youth with Dakota
Ross and Raven Harmon handling
the camera.
"We can make changes," said
Tara Thorsgard.
"The Canoe Journey makes our
Tribe healthy," said Kialiyah Kre
hbiel. "We sing and dance at our long
house," said Makenzie Aaron, "and
that makes us healthy."
The group has already shown the
video at Youth Education and plans
are afoot to show it at the Youth
Powwow on Feb. 22..
Students also learned about set
ting goals. "A SMART goal," said
Empey, "is specific, measurable,
attainable, accountable to someone,
rewarding and time bound.
"Think about your own goals,"
Empey told the group.
In addition, students were
charged with looking into ways to
get healthy snacks into Tribal vend
ing machines, starting a Facebook
page and a Tribal Web site for the
project, Empey said.
"I remember when she ran for
Royalty, and when her sister, (Erica
Empey Benthin), did," said Elder and
longtime Tribal Chair Kathryn Harri
son, who also supported Empey on the
project. "I told her how proud I was
that she is going into medicine."
Harrison recalled how physically
active the community had been in
the past.
A long time ago in front of the
cemetery, there used to be a base
ball field. After the powwows, she
added, Tribal members used to
have a run up to Spirit Mountain.
During powwows, there was always
a volleyball game.
"We did a lot more when we didn't
have any money," she said. "And I
think we ate better then because
we grew our own food."
Now, said Harrison, "The kids sit
inside and push buttons, and add
to that all those fast food restau
rants, and that's it. Now, it takes
two (parents) to make a living, so
there's no time to cook (a nourish
ing meal)."
In a meeting with Tribal Health
and Wellness Department Assis
tant Executive Director Allyson
Lecatsas and Youth Prevention
Coordinator Lisa Leno, Empey took
suggestions about engaging youth
with incentives and holding forums
in which they could participate,
Lecatsas said.
One of the incentives turned out
to be a yogurt party for those par
ticipating in the project.
Empey also went to Recreation
Coordinator Matt Mosley about the
Recreation Department starting
an exercise project for youth. She
knew the Recreation Department
had been talking about it and that
Tribal children had just learned
about staying healthy while creat
ing the video.
"She approached me about kick
ing off an exercise program with
the unveiling of her project," said
Mosley, "and I said, 'Yes, sure, it
would be a great lead in.' "
So, Recreation has now started a
once-a-week fitness component for
six to 12 youth with their progress
tracked for better success.
In selecting obesity, Tribal youth
passed over drug and alcohol is
sues, chewing tobacco, teen preg
nancy and cyber-bullying.
"I think the kids came up with an
important issue," said Empey. "I
hope the project brings awareness
of the problem in the community.
There is no quick solution and it
has to be a community effort."
Participating youth included
Madison and Dakota Ross, JC Rog
ers, Kialiyah Krehbiel, Tara Thors
gard, Julius Roan Eagle, Austin
Little, Diami Eastman, Makenzie
Aaron, Braden Ebensteiner and
Raven Harmon.
"A successful project," Empey
said, "leaves a legacy that continues
on."
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