Success Stories | Tribal Epidemiology Centers

Tribal EpiCenters

08/18/2020

CTEC Success Story: Tribal Adverse Childhood Experiences (TACEs) Project

Success Stories

Nearly two-thirds of the general population report experiencing at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE), such as loss of a parent, abuse, or domestic violence. Members of marginalized populations, including low-income and ethnic minority youth, are at an even greater risk of experiencing ACEs. Higher rates of ACEs have been linked to an increase in poorer health outcomes during adulthood; including heart attack, cancer, depression and an increase in smoking, illicit drug use, and risky behaviors. Through the Building Public Health Infrastructure Initiative grant awarded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CTEC is conducting a two-year Tribal Adverse Childhood Experiences (TACEs) project with three California Tribal Health Programs (THPs).

The project goal is to increase awareness in ACEs and Trauma Informed Care (TIC) in California Tribal communities and clinics. To accomplish this goal, the TACEs project is comprised of three components:

Community surveys – CTEC has adapted and pilot-tested a culturally sensitive survey based on the CDC version of the original ACEs tool. Our Tribal ACEs survey includes questions on demographics, resilience, community, and culture.
Clinic staff surveys – CTEC will collaborate with the three IHPs to determine providers’ extent of trauma-informed beliefs utilizing the Attitudes Related to Trauma-Informed Care (ARTIC) Scale. These attitudes can have an enormous impact on patient’s experiences. ACEs and trauma shape health across the life span and the need for trauma-informed service systems is urgent.
Prevention/intervention strategy implementation – CTEC will analyze the results of the Tribal ACEs survey and the ARTIC Scale survey and work with the THPs to identify targeted community prevention activities, interventions and/or trainings they feel will resonate in their communities and clinics.

After project completion, CTEC will assist IHPs prepare individual and collective reports summarizing the results of the Tribal ACEs survey tool, implemented interventions/trainings, and the ARTIC Scale survey. As CTEC’s aim is to increase awareness on ACEs and TIC, more information on the collective findings will be disseminated September 2021.

Tribal EpiCenters

06/03/2020

ITCA TEC Success Story: Oral Health Surveillance

Success Stories

Oral Health Surveillance among American Indians and Alaska Natives in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah

The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. Tribal Epidemiology Center (ITCA TEC) is pleased to present the Oral Health Surveillance among American Indians and Alaska Natives in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.

This report was prepared in response to Tribal leadership and Tribal health directors prioritizing oral health as a top concern in the Indian Health Service Phoenix and Tucson Service Areas.

The purpose of the report is to provide needed information for the Tribes we serve.

View/Download Report (PDF 1.3 MB)

If you have questions, please contact Dr. Jamie Ritchey, ITCA TEC Director:
Email – Jamie.Ritchey@itcaonline.com
Phone – (602) 258-4822.

Oral Health Surveillance among American Indians and Alaska Natives in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah

Tribal EpiCenters

04/02/2020

ANEC Success Story: Alaska Native Injury Atlas

Success Stories, TEC News

Every five years the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) Injury Prevention program and Alaska Native Epidemiology Center collaborate with statewide data sources and regional Tribal health organizations to update the Alaska Native Injury Atlas. In March, 2020, the third update of the Atlas was published. Because injuries are the leading cause of death for Alaska Native and American Indian people in Alaska through age 49, tracking the leading causes of injuries and which populations are vulnerable is vital to informing prevention efforts.

The Atlas reports both injury hospitalizations and Injury deaths, with charts and maps that illustrate rate differences by geographic area and over time. Because daily activities and risks in Alaska are different from other US areas, an emphasis was made on the causes of injury of particular interest to Alaskans.

ANTHC Injury Prevention and the Alaska Native Epidemiology Center would like to thank the Alaska Trauma Registry, the Alaska Health Analytics and Vital Records, the Alaska Health Facilities Data Reporting Program, and Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development for providing the data used in the Atlas. We also thank the regional Tribal Health Organizations for their continued efforts in injury prevention, and for the injury prevention success stories included in this Atlas.

View/Download Alaska Native Injury Atlas (PDF 11MB)

Tribal EpiCenters

03/10/2020

ANEC Success Story: Crystal Bruns, Associate Health Statistician

Success Stories, TEC News

A TEC Internship Success Story!

Crystal Bruns joined the Alaska Native Epidemiology Center (ANEC) in August 2019 as a Biostatistics Intern, where she completed internship duties at both ANEC and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Arctic Investigations Program. Initially, her internship was scheduled for 3 months, but was soon extended to 6 months due to the skills and enthusiasm she brought to her work. Her willingness to learn anything and everything she could, and her ability to quickly learn and apply new skills led to an offer of a permanent position at ANEC. In February 2020, Crystal officially accepted the position of Associate Health Statistician, making her ANEC’s newest team member!

Q: Why did you apply to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium ANEC Intern position?
A: I knew I wanted a career in statistics and vocalized this with my statistics professor during my last semester at University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). My professor was aware of ANEC’s biostatistics internship and highly recommended I pursue it, so I did.

Q: What are the top 3 things you feel you learned or contributed to ANEC and CDC from this internship opportunity?
A: I expanded my knowledge and capabilities with R Programming, advanced my statistical knowledge and abilities, and I created tools for ANEC and CDC to complete future analysis.

Q: Why did you apply to work at ANEC in a full-time capacity?
A: During my internship, I discovered studying health data was fun and interesting. I also found it rewarding to be a part of a team working to improve people’s lives. I looked forward to contributing to ANEC’s goal every day and wanted to keep being a part of that team.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience working at ANEC?
A: This experience has produced a new awareness in understanding data collection, team collaboration, development of health policies and strategies, and more. I also want to share the people that are a part of ANEC’s team made my experience incredible. Thank you for letting me join the team.

Tribal EpiCenters

01/07/2020

NEC Success Story: Changing Winds – Public Health and Indian Country

Success Stories

The Navajo Epidemiology Center (NEC) worked closely with the David J. Sencer CDC Museum on a new exhibit titled “Changing Winds: Public Health and Indian Country.”

Staff at the NEC worked with the museum curator over the past 1.5 years to ensure the accuracy and appropriateness of the images/information depicting the contributions of American Indians and Alaska Natives to public health.

Per Del Yazzie, an epidemiologist at NEC, “Navajo Nation is one of the tribes featured in the exhibits, specifically about the evolution and encapsulation of our Hantavirus work from the 1993 outbreak to currently. To my knowledge, it is the first exhibit of its kind to do so. More than anything else, we believe that the exhibit shows visitors an often-overlooked aspect of public health in the U.S., and of the many tribes and tribal members who have made long-lasting contributions to keeping us healthy.”

Check out this LINK to see more photos from the exhibit.

Contributed by Delores Becenti, Navajo Department of Health with photos courtesy of CDC.

NEC Success Story: Changing Winds – Public Health and Indian Country