Tribal EpiCenters

11/15/2017

Free, Online Trainings in Health Literacy

TEC News, Training

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers some excellent resources for free, online training in health literacy.

Check out the following links to learn more:

Health Literacy for Public Health Professionals (free continuing education)
Writing for the Public (printable completion certificate)
Speaking with the Public (printable completion certificate)
Creating Easier to Understand Lists, Charts, and Graphs (printable completion certificate)
Fundamentals of Communicating Health Risks (printable completion certificate)
Using Numbers and Explaining Risk (printable completion certificate)

Tribal EpiCenters

10/31/2017

MSPI and DVPI Grantees Meet in Billings to Kick Off the New Grant Year

TEC News

On September 11, 2017, representatives from the Methamphetamine and Suicide Prevention Initiative (MSPI) and Domestic Violence Prevention Initiative (DVPI) projects across Montana and Wyoming met in Billings to share stories of their projects, connect with each other, and gain insight from their Area Project Officer and Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center (RMTEC) data support consultants.

The work in Billings Area emphasizes collaboration not only between all the different programs, but between the RMTEC data support team and the IHS Program Officer.

The day began with a blessing of tobacco from Mike Geboe, one of the staff of the Center for Health Education, Equity, and Research (CHEER) who assists with data consultation on behalf of RMTEC. Featured speakers throughout the day included Ms. Dorothy Dupree, IHS Area Director, who spoke of the importance of centering cultural practices in programs and sharing with each other what is learned. Elsie Joe, Area Project Officer, provided guidance on programmatic forms and reports. Dr. Anne Merewood, Director of CHEER, provided a presentation encouraging grantees to think critically about what “evidence-based” means and why it’s important to establish new evidence base from native country for native use. Kirsten Krane, Program Manager with CHEER, reviewed the Local Data Collection Plan (LDCP) and introduced tools to help track the data for the LDCP throughout the year. Mike Andreini, Director of RMTEC, closed the day with words of encouragement.

Programs shared insights with each other about their individual programs and initiatives throughout the day.

Billings Area MSPI and DVPI grantees assembled for a group photo at the Meeting on Sept 11, 2016.

Billings Area MSPI and DVPI grantees assembled for a group photo at the Meeting on Sept 11, 2017.

Kirsten Krane leading LDCP discussion at Billings Meeting on Sept 11, 2016 with Billings Area MSPI and DVPI grantees.

Tribal EpiCenters

10/31/2017

ANEC Success Story: October 2017

Success Stories, TEC News

Improving Patient-Provider Communication

Clear and effective communication is important in the health care setting. The “Teach-back” method is an evidence-based strategy health care providers can use to ensure information is explained clearly and to gauge patient understanding. Through the Good Health and Wellness in Indian Country (GHWIC) grant the Alaska Native Epidemiology Center (ANEC) is promoting use of the “Always Use Teach-back” online training module.

The module is part of the “Always Use Teach-back” toolkit, a free, interactive, web-based training resource for health care providers.

In October, 2016, ANEC staff received permission from the creators of “Teach-back” and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) leadership to add the training to HealthStream, ANTHC’s employee training system. Four organizations in addition to ANTHC use HealthStream as their employee training platform, and can now offer or assign the “Teach-back” training to staff.

One of the ANEC GHWIC Tribal Health Organization (THO) subawardees is using the HealthStream training as part of a larger organizational effort to incorporate the “Teach Back” method into clinical practice. The THO added the training module to their new hire orientation and also required all clinical staff to complete it during the annual staff training period.

ANEC Teach Back

More information on the “Always Use Teach-back” training toolkit is available here: http://www.teachbacktraining.org/

10 Elements of Competence for Using Teach-back Effectively (PDF)

Tribal EpiCenters

10/13/2017

Building Public Health Infrastructure in Tribal Communities to Accelerate Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in Indian Country (RFA-DP17-1704)

TEC News

The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion has awarded a new five-year cooperative agreement to increase the capacity of Tribal Epidemiology Centers to deliver public health functions to and with the tribes/villages in their Indian Health Service (IHS) Area (including the urban tribal community). The awards will contribute to reductions in chronic diseases and risk factors, reductions in disparities in health outcomes, and improvements in overall health by building public health capacity and infrastructure in Indian Country for disease surveillance, epidemiology, prevention and control of disease, injury, or disability, and program monitoring and evaluation.

A total of approximately $8.5 million was awarded in FY18 to the twelve Tribal Epidemiology Centers and one Network Coordinating Center, the Alaska Native Epidemiology Center, which is part of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. The Network Coordinating Center will provide project organization, support for collaboration and communication, and performance evaluation support for the funded Tribal Epidemiology Centers.

Tribal EpiCenters

10/13/2017

Urban Indian Health Institute Releases New Aggregate Diabetes Report

TEC News

The Urban Indian Health Institute (UIHI) is pleased to announce the release of the Diabetes Care and Outcomes Audit 2012-2016. This report summarizes trends in diabetes services and clinical outcomes among AI/AN patients at the 33 Urban Indian Health Programs (UIHPs) participating in the Diabetes Audit. These findings do not reflect changes experienced by individual patients, but rather they reflect current health status over all UIHPs.

This report highlights the challenges and opportunities of urban Indians who currently live with, manage, treat, prevent and overcome diabetes.

We at UIHI hope that this report will help highlight the great progress made to combat diabetes in Indian Country over the last 20 years, through the Special Diabetes Programs for Indians (SDPI). SDPI started in 1997, when Congress responded to the growing burden of type 2 diabetes in the American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) population by funding inexpensive yet highly cost-saving measures for diabetes care and prevention. The SDPI has not only saved lives, but has also saved millions of Medicaid dollars, through prevention and management of diabetes and associated health problems such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, retinopathy (vision loss,) neuropathy (nerve damage,) and end stage renal disease (kidney failure).

To view the report, click here.

Tribal EpiCenters

Tribal EpiCentersTuesday, February 17th, 2026 at 10:49am

“The ability to understand without condemnation, accept our friends and enemies in the light of their weaknesses, is something we must acquire early in life in order to find happiness in this world.”
– Elizabeth Peratrovich

Happy Elizabeth Peratrovich Day!

Each February 16, we celebrate Elizabeth Peratrovich (Ḵaax̱gal.aat), of the Tlingit Lukaax̱.ádi clan, Raven moiety, who changed Alaska forever.

When Alaska Native peoples faced signs reading "No Dogs, No Natives" and were denied basic rights, Elizabeth stepped forward as Grand President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood. Her powerful testimony led Governor Gruening to sign America's first anti-discrimination law on February 16, 1945 – 14 years before Alaska statehood and nearly 20 years before the Civil Rights Act.

We came upon this audio recording of a 1996 gathering to celebrate Elizabeth Peratrovich: bit.ly/3HUzNwI. It's part of SHI's Southeast Native Radio Recordings Collection. Speakers include Co-Masters-of-Ceremony Richard Stitt and Ethel Lund, Alaska Native Sisterhood's Selena Everson, U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer, and Alaska Federation of Natives President Julie Kitka.

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