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The Osage Nation’s Mobile Medical Unit, a clinic on wheels that visits three Oklahoma towns so Osage citizens can get their checkups, screenings and vaccines, was launched Monday.
Tony Little, chief medical officer for the Osage Nation, told ICT and Tulsa World that July and August are open for scheduling appointments and will serve as a trial period to see how the mobile clinic goes. The Osage Nation Health System posted a schedule on its Facebook page last week.
The mobile clinic goes to Skiatook, Fairfax and Hominy, three towns in the Osage Reservation.
Little said many Osage patients live two or more hours away from the Pawhuska clinic. Because of disabilities or lack of transportation or time, many patients are not able to make regular checkups, medication refill visits or follow-ups.
“It takes up to half the day for some people to come to a doctor’s visit and back home,” Little said. “The biggest thing is location. It’ll be right there for them to use locally, and we hope it will make a difference in the long term for their health care. There will be consistency in regular appointments.”
COVID-19 vaccinations and flu shots will be available, as well as lab work, chronic health care, women’s health care and diagnostics for illnesses. Prescriptions can be refilled, and the medications can either be sent in the mail or to a local pharmacy where patients can pick them up free of charge.
Behavioral health screenings are also done at the mobile unit, and referrals to psychiatrists or other specialists can be made.
“We’re also building a satellite clinic in Skiatook right now,” Little said. “We aim to serve our more rural communities as best as possible.”
All visits and prescribed medications are free to Osage citizens, as the Osage Nation Health System provides free health care to enrolled tribal members. Appointments can be scheduled up to the end of August. — Felix Clary, ICT and Tulsa World
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In interior Alaska and northwest Canada, temperatures are in the pleasant 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit range but climate change is affecting nearly every aspect of life, said Gwich’in Council International board member Evon Taa’ąįį Peter, who is Neetsaii Gwich’in and Koyukon Athabascan.
For one thing, he told ICT, more than 60 percent of the forest lands of the Alaskan Gwich’in nation have burned in wildfires in the past 10 years. As of July 10, 582,000 acres had burned this year in 328 wildfires in Alaska.
“I couldn’t open the windows of my house for seven days straight, I think, because it would just let smoke billow into my home, which was already too unhealthy for us to be outside. So most of us just had to remain indoors…so there’s definitely very real dramatic and in-our-face impacts from climate change across the state, even in (an urban area like) Fairbanks.”
The fires are contributing to the melting of the permafrost, ground that’s been frozen for anywhere from two years to thousands of years. Because permafrost holds a lot of methane and carbon, “we’re also really worried about those further implications due to those forest fires connected to the permafrost that’s melting,” Peter said. The methane and carbon dioxide are greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming. READ MORE — Joaqlin Estus, ICT
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PIERRE, S.D. – A new law enforcement training held in South Dakota allows tribal law enforcement recruits to stay close to home while carrying out their training rather than traveling down to Artesia, New Mexico, for 13 weeks of training.
Federal law allows for tribal law enforcement officers to attend either the Indian Police Academy in Artesia or a state-accredited training program. Tribes have the option of selecting where they’ll send officers, which is generally to Artesia, said Hank Prim, the South Dakota law enforcement training administrator.
And while the state’s law enforcement academy has always been open to recruits from tribal law enforcement agencies, the Criminal Justice in Indian Country Course was previously still only offered in New Mexico. With support from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, this course will be offered in Pierre following the basic training officers are currently undergoing.
“The Bureau of Indian Affairs proactively reached out to us and offered to host that training class,” Prim said. “The stars are aligned to do it.”
For those with families, the opportunity to remain in South Dakota during training is crucial. READ MORE — Amelia Schafer, ICT and Rapid City Journal
July 5 marked the second First Friday Traditional Games Day of the year for the Cherokee Nation, where Cherokee citizens and other community members were taught to play stickball and traditional games at the Cherokee National History Museum in Tahlequah.
The first game day was held in June, and one more will be held in August.
JP Johnson, a Cherokee language teacher and stickball player, said he wants stickball to be a “gateway drug” into Cherokee culture. If a young person falls in love with the game, Johnson said they might fall in love with the ceremonies and traditions that surround it.
“I want them to be hooked on their identity. I don’t want there to be missing links to who we were. I hate saying, ‘We used to do this or that.’ Why is it ‘used to?’ We shouldn’t have to say that anymore. The government is not breathing down our necks with dances and ceremonies. We have religious freedom to do what our ancestors did,” Johnson said in an ICT and Tulsa World interview. READ MORE — Felix Clary, ICT and Tulsa World
- Climate change hitting Arizona’s Indigenous peoples hard: ‘These conditions can be life threatening…’
- Lakota Two-Spirit activist attends White House celebration: Candi Brings Plenty, Oglala Lakota, was invited to attend the White House’s LGBTQ and Two-Spirit event on June 25
- Supreme Court tells IHS to pay its bills: In a 5 to 4 decision the highest court ruled that Indian Health Service has to reimburse tribally-run health programs for the overhead costs it takes to bill insurance companies. The statute was clear but the federal government argued it would be too expensive
- Arc’teryx’s striking new products were designed with Indigenous artists
- Tens of thousands ‘overwhelmingly support’ using Indigenous knowledge to manage Bears Ears
We want your tips, but we also want your feedback. What should we be covering that we’re not? What are we getting wrong? Please let us know. dalton@ictnews.org.
