Tribal Health

Ignorance isn’t always bliss, especially when it comes to cultural diversity and awareness. But in places like hospitals where doctors see patients from a multitude of backgrounds everyday and schedules are extremely tight, understanding diverse cultures and beliefs isn’t always easy.

For this reason, Poudre Valley Hospital has a diversity committee to focus in on issues that those in the health profession may face. The hospital is partnering with Colorado State University’s Native American Student Services to host a symposium on Nov. 8 at the Lincoln Center, which will focus on improving health care services for American Natives.

“Often they have different ways they want to be treated in hospital,” said Gary Kimsey, PVH spokesman. “We’ve had situations where they will bring in their own medicine man or come in and burn incense. If you have a staff who isn’t familiar with that, it can create challenges for the staff.”

Kimsey said health care issues for Native Americans are often unrealized. Part of this could be because American Indians and Alaska Natives are a small minority of the population. This group makes up 1.1 percent or 44,241 people of Colorado’s total population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2006, 62 out of 20,415 inpatients and 352 out of 271,365 outpatients where Native Americans. Many of these patients come down from the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming or are students attending CSU.

“The figures are low when compared to the total patient figures, but the number of patients doesn’t make a difference in how we try to train the clinical staff to interact with patients of various cultures,” Kimsey said.

Dr. John Nagel, medical director of PVH’s Mountain Crest Behavioral Healthcare Center will be one of several speakers at the forum. Nagel has provided services to the Southern Ute Tribal Health Clinic in southern Colorado and has an extensive background as a psychiatric consultant working with the Native American population.

“One issue in dealing with Native American health is the diversity within that population,” Nagel said. “A lot of problems in health care arise from people making assumptions about other groups of people. ... Healthcare professionals tend to make assumptions about Native Americans as a whole without knowing the tribal identity.”

He said one major assumption made frequently is that alcoholism is more prevalent for Native Americans than other populations. However, on reservations certain generalizations do regularly ring true.

“There is poverty and unemployment on reservations,” Nagel said. “A lot of the health problems you see are the same kind you see in other populations where there is poverty.”

Nagel’s interest in Native Americans was first sparked during his childhood. His father was a naturist and read him books about Native Americans. His experiences in Boy Scouts also peaked those interests. His father died when Nagel was 16.

Nagel said he had a hard time finding an adequate way of healing, so it became a personal quest. In College he student anthropology and in medical school, he had a mentor who steered him toward American Indian health issues. Nagel found the incorporation of the spiritual aspect as part of health beliefs appealing.

“One of the nice things about working Indian people is I’ve learned as much from them as they have from me,” he said.

Bookshelves filled with books on Native Americans stand against two walls of his office—a testament to all the knowledge he has gathered over the years. His office is also decorated with a variety of Native American artwork, from pictures to pottery.

Nagel said he hopes the conference will draw a number of high school and college students in addition to health care professionals. He said it will especially be a good opportunity for students considering the health care field.

Seraphina Wall, the assistant director of Native American Student Services at CSU, said the campus office has started doing more collaborative community events in the last few years. She said she is encouraging several students to attend. Wall said there are about 360 self-identified Native American students attending CSU this year.

While the conference will hit on a number of serious topics including contemporary health issues in tribal communities, lessons that have been learned, methods for partnering with tribal communities and strategies for enhancing health care services, it will also be a time for celebration. There will be lots of food, drumming, music and dance.

“The objective is to increase cultural sensitivity, evaluation and treatment for Native American people, but also to help people think more broadly diversity issues,” Nagel said.

Colorado State University Celebrates Native Americans:

November is Native American Heritage Month and CSU and Native American Student Services is hosting several events to celebrate. Native American book displays will be up at the CSU Bookstore in the Lory Student Center, the Morgan Library and the Fort Collins Public Library all month. Check out the list of month’s events at http://welcome.colostate.edu/index.asp?url=campus_events_naam07.

To Go: The symposium is from 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins. Registration is $25 and includes lunch. To register, call 495-7500 or visit www.nass.colostate.edu.