Post by blackcrowheart on Jan 10, 2006 12:05:46 GMT -5
Program guides American Indian students through medical school
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 and culturally sensitive
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 difference. The center recruits American
Indian students and helps them through the university's medical schools
in Duluth and Minneapolis.
"I came here for this medical school. It is known for its commitment to
American Indian health, and that's the direction I was going in," said
first-year medical student Jean Howell. Howell, a member of the Cherokee
Nation, is originally from California and plans to become a family
practice doctor in an American Indian community.
While 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 less confident that they will receive adequate
care than 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 and how it is to have things stacked against
you."
A Mille Lacs Band member, Vainio grew up near Cook. He worked in a
sawmill and a body shop, as a bartender and a construction worker before
becoming a paramedic with the Virginia Fire Department. 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's 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 UMD social work instructor and Leech Lake
enrollee John Day. "We're telling them early they can do this."
UMD's Department of Social Work and the Center of American Indian and
Minority Health work together on some issues, including giving social
workers experience in medical settings.
Dr. Kathleen Annette, the Bemidji area director for the Indian Health
Service, took part in some of the first Indian-directed programs done by
the University of Minnesota medical school in the early 1970s - first as
a high school student, later as an undergraduate and medical student at
UMD.
"The program was really a magnet for both undergraduate and graduate
programs," she said. "Students go through these programs and they bond.
A support system develops so there is support to succeed in science and
in math and in medicine - whatever program you're going through."
After piquing the interests of students in middle and high school and in
college, the center helps prospective medical students with study
programs and workshops to prepare for admission to medical school. To
help American Indian students through medical school, the center
provides academic counseling, guidance from American Indian doctors and
volunteer opportunities.
"We provide academic support, but the issues are very seldom academic,"
Dorscher said. "They are something else. Sometimes it is the fear of
losing who they are."
The center helped Dorscher, a Turtle Mountain enrollee, learn more about
her culture when she was a medical student in the early 1990s. Her
mother had kept Dorscher away from traditional ways.
"The center gave me the opportunity to explore those things," she said.
"I found that extremely helpful. Culture is an asset, not a deficit."
An advisory board of American Indian elders and professionals helps
guide the center's activities.
Fourth-year medical student Erik Brodt, an Anishinaabe from Cadott, said
the center is like a family.
"I think all of us have had moments where we need lots of support and
then other moments where we are called upon to support other people," he
said. "The support the center provided me really made medical school a
much more enjoyable experience than the torment many people associate
with medical school."
Brodt would like to practice medicine at a tribal clinic in northern
Minnesota.
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 have already 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.
"We're really trying to get more Indian physicians into rural areas,"
Annette said. "UMD's strength has always been its ability to encourage
students to go on into rural practice. And many of us come from
reservations, so it is a natural fit."
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.
Vanderwagen, who is white, grew up on the Zuni Reservation in New Mexico
and remembers being proud of mastering skills such as inserting an
arterial line. But after graduation, he found such skills of little use
in Indian Country. He needed to know more about such things as prenatal
care, delivering babies and dealing with chronic diseases.
"(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."
Information from: Duluth News Tribune, www.duluthsuperior.com
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 and culturally sensitive
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 difference. The center recruits American
Indian students and helps them through the university's medical schools
in Duluth and Minneapolis.
"I came here for this medical school. It is known for its commitment to
American Indian health, and that's the direction I was going in," said
first-year medical student Jean Howell. Howell, a member of the Cherokee
Nation, is originally from California and plans to become a family
practice doctor in an American Indian community.
While 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 less confident that they will receive adequate
care than 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 and how it is to have things stacked against
you."
A Mille Lacs Band member, Vainio grew up near Cook. He worked in a
sawmill and a body shop, as a bartender and a construction worker before
becoming a paramedic with the Virginia Fire Department. 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's 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 UMD social work instructor and Leech Lake
enrollee John Day. "We're telling them early they can do this."
UMD's Department of Social Work and the Center of American Indian and
Minority Health work together on some issues, including giving social
workers experience in medical settings.
Dr. Kathleen Annette, the Bemidji area director for the Indian Health
Service, took part in some of the first Indian-directed programs done by
the University of Minnesota medical school in the early 1970s - first as
a high school student, later as an undergraduate and medical student at
UMD.
"The program was really a magnet for both undergraduate and graduate
programs," she said. "Students go through these programs and they bond.
A support system develops so there is support to succeed in science and
in math and in medicine - whatever program you're going through."
After piquing the interests of students in middle and high school and in
college, the center helps prospective medical students with study
programs and workshops to prepare for admission to medical school. To
help American Indian students through medical school, the center
provides academic counseling, guidance from American Indian doctors and
volunteer opportunities.
"We provide academic support, but the issues are very seldom academic,"
Dorscher said. "They are something else. Sometimes it is the fear of
losing who they are."
The center helped Dorscher, a Turtle Mountain enrollee, learn more about
her culture when she was a medical student in the early 1990s. Her
mother had kept Dorscher away from traditional ways.
"The center gave me the opportunity to explore those things," she said.
"I found that extremely helpful. Culture is an asset, not a deficit."
An advisory board of American Indian elders and professionals helps
guide the center's activities.
Fourth-year medical student Erik Brodt, an Anishinaabe from Cadott, said
the center is like a family.
"I think all of us have had moments where we need lots of support and
then other moments where we are called upon to support other people," he
said. "The support the center provided me really made medical school a
much more enjoyable experience than the torment many people associate
with medical school."
Brodt would like to practice medicine at a tribal clinic in northern
Minnesota.
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 have already 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.
"We're really trying to get more Indian physicians into rural areas,"
Annette said. "UMD's strength has always been its ability to encourage
students to go on into rural practice. And many of us come from
reservations, so it is a natural fit."
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.
Vanderwagen, who is white, grew up on the Zuni Reservation in New Mexico
and remembers being proud of mastering skills such as inserting an
arterial line. But after graduation, he found such skills of little use
in Indian Country. He needed to know more about such things as prenatal
care, delivering babies and dealing with chronic diseases.
"(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."
Information from: Duluth News Tribune, www.duluthsuperior.com