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.

In December 2019, they released Healing Our California Tribal Communities: A Strategic Plan to Address Tribal Opioid Use.

The 52-page strategic plan presents an overview of the opioid epidemic and the impact on Tribal communities, and it provides a summary of key findings and Tribal community-driven solutions.

“The Strategic Plan to Address Tribal Opioid Use will provide California Tribes, Tribal Health Programs, and Tribal Local Opioid Coalitions with recommendations of community-driven solutions to address opioid use and abuse in their communities,” said Vanesscia Cresci, CRIHB’s Research and Public Health Director.

A team comprised of a CTEC epidemiologist, project coordinator, and program evaluator traveled to Tribal communities throughout Northern, Central, and Southern California to gather community data, distribute the opioid response capacity assessment survey, and conduct key informant interviews and focus groups.

CRIHB’s CEO, Dr. Mark LeBeau said, “I appreciate the hard work and efforts of CRIHB’s Research and Public Health team who developed the Strategic Plan to Address Tribal Opioid Use. CRIHB would like to thank the Tribal Opioid Advisory Committee for their helpful feedback, guidance, and support in creating the strategic plan.”

SPTHB-TEC is proud to share the stories and impact of four Good Health and Wellness in Indian Country programs located in the urban area of Tulsa, Oklahoma and rural areas of Pawhuska, Oklahoma and Anadarko, Oklahoma. The community programs highlighted are the running/walking club of the Wichita & Affiliated Tribes (Anadarko), Delaware Nation’s “Native Living” nutrition program (Anadarko), Osage Nation’s “Grow, Gather, Hunt Camp” (Pawhuska), and the “Running Strong” & “Sit Less, Move More, Learn Better” programs from the Indian Health Care Resource Center (Tulsa).

These projects utilize indigenous methods to promote healthy living and activity with positive life-style changes in their communities through policy, systems, and environmental changes.

This two-day training was open to all California Tribal Health Programs, Tribes, Tribal organizations, and Urban Indian Health Programs including subcontractors of the Good Health and Wellness in Indian Country (GHWIC), Advancing California Opportunities to Renew Native Health Systems (ACORNS)/California Indian Tobacco Education (CITE), Methamphetamine and Suicide Prevention Initiative (MSPI)/ Domestic Violence Prevention Initiative (DVPI) grantees, Tribal Medication Assisted Treatment, Project PaTHwAY, and Tribal Comprehensive Cancer Control Programs.

In total, CTEC hosted 50 representatives from 30 unique tribes or organizations.

“Using Data to Tell Your Story” was the theme for the training this year with the goal of giving participants the opportunity to participate in informative sessions on how to search and apply for grant funding, improve program sustainability, improve the quality of data being collected through primary and secondary sources, and learn innovative and culturally sensitive ways to use data to tell a story.

CTEC was honored to have expert guest speakers including keynote speakers Abigail Echo-Hawk, Director of the Urban Indian Health Institute and Chief Research Officer for the Seattle Indian Health Board and Theresa Ambo, President’s Postdoctoral Fellow from the Department of Education Studies at the University of California, San Diego. These speakers shared their expertise and their stories pertaining to data, evaluation, program sustainability, and community engagement to support health promotion efforts serving American Indian/Alaska Native communities across California.

Attendee responses from post event evaluation question: “What was your greatest takeaway from this training event?”

Attendee responses from post event evaluation question: “How will you apply this training experience to your own program practices, evaluation, and/or sustainability?”