Post by blackcrowheart on Jan 17, 2006 21:44:28 GMT -5
Medical school gives Indian students boost
As doctors, they might return to communities
BY STEVE KUCHERA
Duluth News Tribune
DULUTH, Minn. — American Indians die at a rate nearly 50 percent higher
than the national average for people their age, according to the U.S.
Indian Health Service.
There are many reasons for the deaths — accidents, suicides, chronic
diseases, poverty and a lack of adequate medical care.
"Having well-trained Indian doctors go back to their communities can
make a real difference," said Indian Health Service spokesman Leo Nolan.
The University of Minnesota's Center of American Indian and Minority
Health is working to make that happen.
The center recruits American Indian students and helps them through the
university's medical schools in Duluth and Minneapolis.
Although a doctor doesn't have to be an American Indian to relate to
Indian patients, it is helpful, center Director Dr. Joy Dorscher said.
In July 2003, Ben Muneta — then president of the Association of American
Indian Physicians — told a U.S. Senate committee that minority patients
seeing a white doctor are not as confident they will receive adequate
care as are white patients.
Such mistrust may cause some Indians to avoid doctors.
"As soon as I started, people wanted to see me just because I am
native," said Dr. Arne Vainio, who works at Min-O-Aya-Win Human Services
Center on the Fond du Lac Reservation. "We understand each other. I grew
up without electricity and indoor plumbing a lot of the time. I
understand what poverty is."
A Mille Lacs Band member, Vainio grew up near Cook, Minn. He worked in a
sawmill and a body shop, as a bartender and a construction worker before
becoming a paramedic with the fire department in Virginia, Minn. It was
that job that made him interested in medical school. He received his
doctorate in medicine in 1994 and did his residency with the Seattle
Indian Health Board. He has been at Min-O-Aya-Win since 1997.
Vainio believes there is a need for more Indian doctors.
"They are very, very underrepresented," he said.
American Indians make up 2.8 percent of the U.S. population, according
to the 2000 census. But only 0.3 percent of students in the nation's
medical schools in 2000 were American Indians.
In the early 1970s, the university's medical schools began programs to
encourage American Indians to enter medicine. The school established the
Center of American Indian and Minority Health in 1987 to coordinate and
lead its efforts.
The center is one of three Native American Centers of Excellence in the
nation, supported in part by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.
The Minnesota center begins its recruiting efforts in middle school with
programs designed to keep students interested in education and attract
them to scientific fields.
"Not long ago, minorities were told not to bother because they couldn't
do things like this," said University of Minnesota-Duluth social work
instructor and Leech Lake enrollee John Day. "We're telling them early
they can do this."
An advisory board of American Indian elders and professionals helps
guide the center's activities.
The center's approach seems to work. The school graduated 16 American
Indians during the 1970s and again during the 1980s. It graduated 70
during the 1990s. So far this decade, 37 Indians have either graduated
or are attending the school. Another six already have enrolled for next
year.
The Association of American Medical Colleges reports that the American
Indian medical school ranks second in the nation for American Indian
graduates, although it ranks 19th for the total number of graduates.
The number of American Indian graduates is only one measure of the
center's success. Increasingly, medical schools are moving away from
producing doctors well versed in primary care and treating chronic
illnesses to producing doctors trained in high-tech, hospital-based
medical care, said Dr. Craig Vanderwagen, the Indian Health Service's
chief medical officer.
"(The Indian Health Service) wants to create public servants with skills
to improve Indian health," he said. "The Indian programs in North Dakota
and Minnesota have been much more focused on what I think are the right
skill for serving Indian communities."
As doctors, they might return to communities
BY STEVE KUCHERA
Duluth News Tribune
DULUTH, Minn. — American Indians die at a rate nearly 50 percent higher
than the national average for people their age, according to the U.S.
Indian Health Service.
There are many reasons for the deaths — accidents, suicides, chronic
diseases, poverty and a lack of adequate medical care.
"Having well-trained Indian doctors go back to their communities can
make a real difference," said Indian Health Service spokesman Leo Nolan.
The University of Minnesota's Center of American Indian and Minority
Health is working to make that happen.
The center recruits American Indian students and helps them through the
university's medical schools in Duluth and Minneapolis.
Although a doctor doesn't have to be an American Indian to relate to
Indian patients, it is helpful, center Director Dr. Joy Dorscher said.
In July 2003, Ben Muneta — then president of the Association of American
Indian Physicians — told a U.S. Senate committee that minority patients
seeing a white doctor are not as confident they will receive adequate
care as are white patients.
Such mistrust may cause some Indians to avoid doctors.
"As soon as I started, people wanted to see me just because I am
native," said Dr. Arne Vainio, who works at Min-O-Aya-Win Human Services
Center on the Fond du Lac Reservation. "We understand each other. I grew
up without electricity and indoor plumbing a lot of the time. I
understand what poverty is."
A Mille Lacs Band member, Vainio grew up near Cook, Minn. He worked in a
sawmill and a body shop, as a bartender and a construction worker before
becoming a paramedic with the fire department in Virginia, Minn. It was
that job that made him interested in medical school. He received his
doctorate in medicine in 1994 and did his residency with the Seattle
Indian Health Board. He has been at Min-O-Aya-Win since 1997.
Vainio believes there is a need for more Indian doctors.
"They are very, very underrepresented," he said.
American Indians make up 2.8 percent of the U.S. population, according
to the 2000 census. But only 0.3 percent of students in the nation's
medical schools in 2000 were American Indians.
In the early 1970s, the university's medical schools began programs to
encourage American Indians to enter medicine. The school established the
Center of American Indian and Minority Health in 1987 to coordinate and
lead its efforts.
The center is one of three Native American Centers of Excellence in the
nation, supported in part by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.
The Minnesota center begins its recruiting efforts in middle school with
programs designed to keep students interested in education and attract
them to scientific fields.
"Not long ago, minorities were told not to bother because they couldn't
do things like this," said University of Minnesota-Duluth social work
instructor and Leech Lake enrollee John Day. "We're telling them early
they can do this."
An advisory board of American Indian elders and professionals helps
guide the center's activities.
The center's approach seems to work. The school graduated 16 American
Indians during the 1970s and again during the 1980s. It graduated 70
during the 1990s. So far this decade, 37 Indians have either graduated
or are attending the school. Another six already have enrolled for next
year.
The Association of American Medical Colleges reports that the American
Indian medical school ranks second in the nation for American Indian
graduates, although it ranks 19th for the total number of graduates.
The number of American Indian graduates is only one measure of the
center's success. Increasingly, medical schools are moving away from
producing doctors well versed in primary care and treating chronic
illnesses to producing doctors trained in high-tech, hospital-based
medical care, said Dr. Craig Vanderwagen, the Indian Health Service's
chief medical officer.
"(The Indian Health Service) wants to create public servants with skills
to improve Indian health," he said. "The Indian programs in North Dakota
and Minnesota have been much more focused on what I think are the right
skill for serving Indian communities."