11/1/2019 2 Comments Day 7Today we said goodbye to Tulsa. It was a bittersweet departure because on the one hand, we had met so many lovely people and still felt as though we had so much left to learn, but at the same time, we were all ready to sleep on actual beds instead of the sleeping bags we'd been using all week!
In parting, we would like to thank all of those that hosted us in Tulsa including University of Tulsa who provided our housing, the Tulsa Historical Preservation Commission, the Indian Healthcare Resource Center, the Osage Nation museum and visitor center, Tulsa City Hall where we met Councilwoman Vanessa Hall Harper, the Oklahoma State University department of American Indians in Medicine and Science, the Osage Nation Community Health Representatives, Osage Tribal Congressman Eli Potts, and the Wazhazhi Health Center. Read about our conversations with representatives of each of these places below to follow along with our journey and meet all of the amazing people we interacted with and learned from during our stay in Tulsa. We had such a lovely time on this trip and look forward to bringing our learning back to campus and keeping the conversation about Native American healthcare going on our campus and beyond. In gratitude, The Healthcare in the Homeland Breakout Trip
2 Comments
11/1/2019 2 Comments Day 6Tulsa’s first snow was last night. Last night also happened to be the night we managed to leave the heat completely turned off while we were sleeping. We woke up at 7:30am to an ice cold apartment, and, surprised to find ourselves un-frostbitten, we began the longest day of our trip so far. We spent the day back on the Osage reservation. Our first stop was the office of the tribe’s Community Health Representatives (CHRs), where we talked with Crystal Standingbear, one of three current Osage representatives. She spoke to us about the nation-wide CHR program and its important role in their community. CHRs like Crystal facilitate healthcare access in rural communities by performing home visits and driving patients to and from appointments. They form close personal relationships with their patients, and perform individualized care that can go above and beyond traditional medical services; Crystal discussed her experiences helping clients navigate IHS, connecting patients with child or adult protective services, making referrals for home repair, and, most importantly, convincing patients to care about their health and take the necessary steps to maintain it. Next we met with Osage Nation Tribal Congressman Eli Potts. He took us into the Osage Nation congressional building for some lunch. Congressman Potts talked with us about the Osage Nation’s complicated and unique history in relation to the US government and other tribal nations in Oklahoma. We learned about the pre-contact Osage land base which covered more than 100 million acres. Settlers pushed the Osage off their land, claiming it as their own. Today the Osage Nation has just 1.4 million acres of their original lands. We also heard about the Osage Nation’s great prosperity in the 1920s from oil extraction. Unfortunately, this great wealth resulted in mismanagement of Osage money by the federal government which still persists today. After our meeting with Congressman Potts, he then took us to meet Dr. Ronald Shaw. Dr. Shaw is an accomplished physician; he previously served in the Osage Congress, was the board-president of the Association of American Indian Physicians, and is the current CEO of the Osage Nation Health Services. Our talk with Dr. Shaw was very informative, and covered a range of topics that affect Native American health. He told us about the way his research tries to engage teenagers in the area and his attempts to stop opioid-addiction in parents through strategic commercials. We are very thankful for Dr. Shaw taking the time out of his day to meet with us and share his personal experiences. We ended our day with an excursion to a bison reserve in hopes of spotting some wild bison. While our mission was unsuccessful, we were able to snap some stunning pictures with the beautiful grasslands as our backdrop, before heading back to Tulsa. All in all, our day and our trip as a whole left us all with lots to think about and some amazing memories from all our community partners and our time spent with each other. The sun was setting we drove back with our minds full, and our stomachs ready for one last dinner before our departure the following day. Erin, Jessica, and Brayan 10/30/2019 0 Comments Day 5Our first meeting of the day was with Councilwoman Vanessa Harper, who represents a large district in North Tulsa, where the average lifespan is 12 years shorter than the lifespans of those who live in the more affluent, white dominated South Tulsa. Councilwoman Harper shared with us how she recognized that limited access to healthy food options was a large factor contributing to this disparity in her community. Not a single grocery store exists in North Tulsa. Rather, dollar stores packed with frozen foods and non-perishable goods proliferate-- a rare phenomenon in South Tulsa. In 2016, Councilwoman Harper decided to run to represent the needs of her constituents in North Tulsa, needs that if addressed, could improve the quality of life and lifespan. She fought to put stricter zoning laws on dollar stores and set up a grocery store in her district, but received huge pushback. With the support of community members she was able to make this huge change in her district. And neighborhoods like her district in North Tulsa across the country are now putting in place similar policies to limit dollar tree expansion and encourage the development and growth of grocery stores. It was so inspiring to hear from the Councilwoman and hear the story of her ongoing struggle to advocate for her community. Our next stop was with the department of American Indians in Medicine and Science at Oklahoma State University. There we were able to meet with representatives from the program including program director Jacque Hensley, Dr. Kent Smith, and Dr. Denna Wheeler. Dr. Wheeler shared a powerpoint with us outlining the history of Native American Healthcare in Oklahoma and the current state of affairs across the Oklahoma tribes today. The state of Oklahoma, especially in the areas of tribal designated lands, has some of the worst health outcomes in the United States. Over the years, Native populations have worked to address this by building tribal hospital facilities which receive IHS funds but are run and operated by tribes who can additionally dedicate alternative funds. These tribal hospitals meet the funding gap of IHS facilities and increase accessibility to health services within communities, and often take a more holistic healthcare approach. Further, communities are working to increase the number of practicing Native physicians to staff their hospitals, like the three OSU medical students we met with, who have been involved at the receiving end of these efforts. As they led us on a tour of the OSU medical school facilities, the students mentioned that, as one of the most underrepresented racial groups in the physician workforce, one of the largest personal barriers was understanding that being a physician was possible. Seeing physicians who looked like they do was key to the development of this confidence. As OSU has recently contracted with the Cherokee Nation to build the nation’s first tribal affiliated medical school, these efforts will certainly increase the number of physicians who not just serve Native populations, but are Native Americans themselves. It was cool to speak with these current med school students and learn about the osteopathic approach that their training has given them in hopes of helping them better serve their communities. We spent the end of our day on an outing to the Oklahoma Aquarium and enjoyed a spaghetti dinner cooked by Arianne, Erin, Brayan, and Jessica! Nivida Today was our first day venturing out from Tulsa a bit. We woke up, ate breakfast, and packed into the vans with Geralyn as a guest participant! We left around 10am for the hour long drive to Pawhuska, the location of the Osage Tribal government. Along the way we saw lots and lots of cows and oil pumps in the fields. Once we arrived in Pawhuska, we first went to the Osage Nation Tribal Museum, the oldest tribal museum in the country. They had displays telling of various parts of Osage history and culture, as well as a room full of art from contemporary Osage artists. One particularly striking thing that I learned about during the visit was the recent history of the Osage language. Through the US government's Indian boarding schools, Osage people were forced to forget their language and only speak English. Currently, there are only 15-20 second-language speakers of the Osage language and no first-language speakers so a revitalization effort is gaining popularity. Children are spending time learning the language in immersion programs and bringing the language back into use. From the museum, we headed to the Osage Nation visitors center and had an unexpected conversation with the staff member working there. After we had explored the art from local artists on display, Janet told us the story of Osage Nation in the 1920s. The richest population of people per capita at the time, Osage people drew a lot of negative attention from white Oklahomans and a string of murders of wealthy Osage occurred soon after. Janet discussed how this experience has created scars on the community that still have yet to heal, impacting the way that those in the community think today. This shows us how important it is to realize that events that occurred seemingly long ago can still have effects today. Afterwards, we headed back to Tulsa and spent some time at a cute local cafe to get some much needed homework done. After cooking fajitas and eating baked goods from a local Mexican bakery, we talked and relaxed for the rest of the night. Halfway done and excited to learn more tomorrow! Brandon 10/28/2019 2 Comments Day 3I was not prepared to wake up this morning. After spending so much time getting to know my fellow Breakout Princeton mates late into last night, I did not want to rise from my sleeping bag. But, all of us somehow managed to get up by 9:00 a.m. to leave for our meeting with our first community partner. We were very lucky to meet with both Felicity and Jed of the Tulsa Preservation Committee. During this time, Felicity and Jed took us on a tour of some of contemporary Downtown Tulsa. We found out quite a bit about the history of the area. I was very happy that we were able to learn more about the role of Oil Tycoons on the development of Tulsa, stemming from its age as the "Oil Capital of the World" for the bulk of the 20th century. We toured the Philcade Building and the Philtower. Jed and Felicity gave us a ton of information about the art Deco style throughout the downtown area. We were lucky to end our tour at the top of The Mayo. From up there, we stepped onto the deck to see the entirety of the city and river from one of the highest points. The city itself and the winding of the Arkansas River were beautiful to see. The fog outside did not at all take away from its beauty. Thank you so much Jed and Felicity for a wonderful tour of the city! Later in the day, we traveled down the road from our place of residence to the Indian Health Care Resource Center of Tulsa. This non-profit has existed for over 30 years and is the product of the dedication the Native American community in Tulsa has to health care. As a group, we were given a tour by Tonia and John, two wonderful people who work at the center. They proceeded to tell us about all of the great programs they had and about their plans for an expansion in the coming years. The programs they offer range from a running club for their patients, dietary health classes. and even internship and school outreach programs. Though they act as a primary means of health care for many of their patients, they truly show how much they care about the entirety of the person and not just their physical health. I was really impressed by their focus on preventative health. They want to help those in the Native American community deal with issues regarding health and wellness before these issues become serious enough to warrant a visit to their clinic. We were also very lucky to have Geralyn Williams, the Pace Center Program Coordinator with us for the tour. We went to a local grocery store, Reasor's Food, to pick up some much needed bread and chicken for our meal tonight before heading back for the night. Natasha, Deena and I cooked up some great chicken and tofu fried rice dishes. Geralyn also joined us for dinner...and donuts! We ended the night out with our Roses, Buds, and Thorns of the day. My rose was definitely our visit to the Resource Center and finding out about all of the amazing work they do. The tour and the trip to the top of The Mayo was a super close second. My bud is definitely the excitement Tonia had when telling us about the Cherokee Nation's new hospital and clinic. She really thought we should go check it out if we have the chance. My thorn was not being able to ask even more questions to our amazing community partners! But there is always more time tomorrow for asking more. Signing off, Frances Walker 10/27/2019 0 Comments Day 2Today was a relaxed day for us all to adjust from our midterms stress, get to know each other, and enjoy Tulsa! We got lucky in that the weather today was beautiful. It was 70 degrees and sunny, perfect for some time spent outdoors. It was off to a slow start this morning, where everyone slept in and then enjoyed a beautiful brunch prepared by Annabel (we all woke up to the alluring smell of eggs cooking on the stove with potatoes and green bell peppers). We all ate together, got ready, and then headed to a local coffee shop, where we enjoyed drinks, chatted, and played board games. We then headed to a beautiful park called The Gathering Place. The park ran along the Arkansas River and had a series of parks and beautiful buildings where the community had quite literally gathered to enjoy a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We split into groups and explored the different parts of the park which included a pond/beach, a mirror maze, a zip-line, and a beautiful modernist building. We were all so happy to enjoy some time outdoors and re-connect with our inner child. After the park we went to see a famous statue: a 50 foot Golden Driller! Then we split off into two groups - one group went to go pick up Brayan's bag, which was finally delivered to the airport, while the other group did some additional grocery shopping to pick up some of the things we forgot yesterday. After two successful (yay for Brayan!) missions, we returned to the room and were prepared a lovely dinner of Chicken, potatoes, tofu and asparagus by Arianne, Brandon, Frances and Deena. It was delicious! We ended our day of unwinding, with a group bonding activity which ended with everyone going around in a circle and sharing our life stories with each other. The whole day brought us closer together as a group and left us with some key discoveries: 1) half of us are scorpios 2) Nivi microwaves her cereal 3) Brandon hates all curry?? 4) We have a really great group as a whole :) Looking forward to our first day of community partners tomorrow! Natasha 10/26/2019 0 Comments Day 1My sleep schedule is so wack right now. I made the wise decision the night before the beginning of our Breakout trip that I would stay up playing Secret Hitler until 4:30 AM, when we would go to Philadelphia and catch our flight. Of course, I still don’t know what Philly looks like because I slept the whole way there. After a few mishaps, including some ticket misprints and an exceptionally fast revolving door, we managed to catch a few mini naps on the plane until we landed in Dallas. Two episodes of Brooklyn 99 later, we arrived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which was surprisingly warmer than I expected. Unfortunately, Brayan’s luggage didn’t come through. Fortunately, Tally’s, a famous Route 66 diner known for having the best chicken-fried steak in Oklahoma, was nearby and we were starving. There was this sign of a pig with a demonic grin about to cannibalize some barbecued ribs which completely contrasted Tally’s retro interior. I realized there was a thing as too much gravy and cheese, and I don’t think anybody finished their meals, but it was so, so satisfying to have a good biscuit in what felt like ages.
|
This trip aims to explore Native American experiences with healthcare in the US, including both the prominent issues and the solutions being worked towards. The trip will take place in Tulsa, a city that approximately 30,000 Native Americans call home, as well as on the Osage Nation, a Native American reservation just outside of Tulsa. By talking to various community partners from the University of Tulsa, to Non-Government Organizations, to healthcare providers, we will aim to hear from various perspectives to begin to gather an understanding of what it means to be a Native American seeking healthcare in the United States today.AuthorNatasha Thomas '20 |