Post by blackcrowheart on Mar 4, 2006 11:21:00 GMT -5
Eagle booklets may help Indian kids soar to good health
Revere: Eagle booklets may help Indian kids soar to good health
C.T. REVERE <mailto:ctrevere@tucsoncitizen.com>
Tucson Citizen
www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/local/030206a1_ct_diabetes/0
<http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/local/030206a1_ct_diabetes/0>
[Revere]
Lost tradition has left American Indians in the grip of an unprecedented
diabetes epidemic that is taking its heaviest toll in Arizona.
The healthful diet and physical activities of their ancestors have given
way to contemporary and lamentable American habits of fast food and
television - the root causes of the illness that kills American Indians
at a rate four to ten times that of other Americans.
Now another set of ancient traditions - storytelling and respect for the
wisdom of animals - is being used in a nationwide effort to restore
healthier ways.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has teamed with the
Indian Health Service to publish and distribute four storybooks designed
to teach young American Indians how to avoid Type II diabetes.
The stories center on lessons taught to young Indians by a bald eagle
who encourages them to exercise and eat healthfully.
"The books talk mainly about physical activity and nutrition as being
the two best ways to help," said Rachel Ciccarone, a health
communications specialist at the CDC in Atlanta. "Those lead not only to
diabetes prevention, but to a healthy life that can lead to the
prevention of other things. It uses animal characters, which are
well-respected in the Native American culture, to tell kids to exercise
and eat well and not get overweight."
It's a simple message that local school health officials are eager to
get out.
But for the moment, the so-called "Eagle Books" are available only in
Albuquerque, N.M., where author Georgia Perez resides, and Seattle and
Minneapolis.
On the web:
Eagle Books Web site <http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/eagle.htm>
Diabetes facts <http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics/index.htm>
Those cities gobbled up the first 200,000 copies of the books, leaving
Arizona and the rest of the nation waiting for the next printing,
expected within a month.
Kathy Rucker, executive director of student health services for Tucson
Unified School District, said she's staking her claim early.
"I am going to have every one of my 54 nurses call CDC and get a copy
for their office," Rucker said.
The message combined with the medium just might give momentum to an
effort that has been a life-and-death struggle for people such as the
Tohono O'odham, the Pascua Yaqui, and the Pima, who are at the epicenter
of the problem.
"It's the delivery that can get the message across," said Anselmo Ramon,
director of Native American studies at TUSD.
"Just as Anglo children learn from 'Sesame Street' and Barney and puppet
characters on TV, native children learn from stories like this. It is
culturally relevant to them."
The key to ensuring that children embrace the message is support at
school and at home.
"Exactly what needs to happen is an examination of culture - examining
lifestyle and the types of foods that are traditional," said Rucker.
"Part of the problem has to do with the thrifty gene and how they
evolved as a hunting and gathering people. Their cells hang on to every
calorie because they didn't know when they'd get them again."
That genetic trait, combined with a lack of physical exercise, leads to
Type II diabetes with such frequency in native children that it affects
their ability to learn and becomes an overwhelming burden on school
health officials.
"I am very concerned about the academic achievement gap," said Rucker,
who also supervises early childhood programs for TUSD.
"We already have an academic gap between Native Americans and Hispanics
and blacks compared with their white counterparts. If you superimpose a
diabetes problem over that, you're going to see an increase in that
gap."
On the web:
Eagle Books Web site <http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/eagle.htm>
Diabetes facts <http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics/index.htm>
Earlier this week, TUSD officials announced that Lawrence Intermediate
School on the city's Southwest Side is a casualty of the federal No
Child Left Behind initiative.
The school, which has a student body that is 65 percent American Indian
and 25 percent Hispanic, failed to meet academic standards.
Health issues weren't a major factor in the school's overall performance
problems, but they played a role with some students.
Lawrence does provide a case study in how diabetic students put a drain
on school health workers.
Just four of the 310 children enrolled at Lawrence have been diagnosed
with Type II diabetes, Rucker said.
"Those four students last year generated 465 nursing events that had to
do with diabetes management and keeping the child healthy enough to go
to school," she said. "That's huge."
It's a story repeated throughout the district, but exacerbated in
schools with heavy American Indian enrollment.
"It is rapidly becoming the most labor-intensive service we have,"
Rucker said.
"We have 99 health assistants and 54 school nurses and there are some
sites where we are spending two or three hours a day with one or two
children who have diabetes."
Many diabetic children come from low-income families, so the disease has
the potential of becoming an enormous burden on the state's economy.
The "Eagle Books" can be a great tool for early education in this
epidemic.
Once they're in the hands of the children who most need them, it's up to
parents and teachers to ensure they take heed of this vital ancestral
message.
C.T. Revere can be reached at 573-4594 and at ctrevere@tucsoncitizen.com
<mailto:ctrevere@tucsoncitizen.com> . Address letters to P.O. Box 26767,
Tucson, AZ 85726-6767. His columns run Mondays and Thursdays
Revere: Eagle booklets may help Indian kids soar to good health
C.T. REVERE <mailto:ctrevere@tucsoncitizen.com>
Tucson Citizen
www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/local/030206a1_ct_diabetes/0
<http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/local/030206a1_ct_diabetes/0>
[Revere]
Lost tradition has left American Indians in the grip of an unprecedented
diabetes epidemic that is taking its heaviest toll in Arizona.
The healthful diet and physical activities of their ancestors have given
way to contemporary and lamentable American habits of fast food and
television - the root causes of the illness that kills American Indians
at a rate four to ten times that of other Americans.
Now another set of ancient traditions - storytelling and respect for the
wisdom of animals - is being used in a nationwide effort to restore
healthier ways.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has teamed with the
Indian Health Service to publish and distribute four storybooks designed
to teach young American Indians how to avoid Type II diabetes.
The stories center on lessons taught to young Indians by a bald eagle
who encourages them to exercise and eat healthfully.
"The books talk mainly about physical activity and nutrition as being
the two best ways to help," said Rachel Ciccarone, a health
communications specialist at the CDC in Atlanta. "Those lead not only to
diabetes prevention, but to a healthy life that can lead to the
prevention of other things. It uses animal characters, which are
well-respected in the Native American culture, to tell kids to exercise
and eat well and not get overweight."
It's a simple message that local school health officials are eager to
get out.
But for the moment, the so-called "Eagle Books" are available only in
Albuquerque, N.M., where author Georgia Perez resides, and Seattle and
Minneapolis.
On the web:
Eagle Books Web site <http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/eagle.htm>
Diabetes facts <http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics/index.htm>
Those cities gobbled up the first 200,000 copies of the books, leaving
Arizona and the rest of the nation waiting for the next printing,
expected within a month.
Kathy Rucker, executive director of student health services for Tucson
Unified School District, said she's staking her claim early.
"I am going to have every one of my 54 nurses call CDC and get a copy
for their office," Rucker said.
The message combined with the medium just might give momentum to an
effort that has been a life-and-death struggle for people such as the
Tohono O'odham, the Pascua Yaqui, and the Pima, who are at the epicenter
of the problem.
"It's the delivery that can get the message across," said Anselmo Ramon,
director of Native American studies at TUSD.
"Just as Anglo children learn from 'Sesame Street' and Barney and puppet
characters on TV, native children learn from stories like this. It is
culturally relevant to them."
The key to ensuring that children embrace the message is support at
school and at home.
"Exactly what needs to happen is an examination of culture - examining
lifestyle and the types of foods that are traditional," said Rucker.
"Part of the problem has to do with the thrifty gene and how they
evolved as a hunting and gathering people. Their cells hang on to every
calorie because they didn't know when they'd get them again."
That genetic trait, combined with a lack of physical exercise, leads to
Type II diabetes with such frequency in native children that it affects
their ability to learn and becomes an overwhelming burden on school
health officials.
"I am very concerned about the academic achievement gap," said Rucker,
who also supervises early childhood programs for TUSD.
"We already have an academic gap between Native Americans and Hispanics
and blacks compared with their white counterparts. If you superimpose a
diabetes problem over that, you're going to see an increase in that
gap."
On the web:
Eagle Books Web site <http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/eagle.htm>
Diabetes facts <http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics/index.htm>
Earlier this week, TUSD officials announced that Lawrence Intermediate
School on the city's Southwest Side is a casualty of the federal No
Child Left Behind initiative.
The school, which has a student body that is 65 percent American Indian
and 25 percent Hispanic, failed to meet academic standards.
Health issues weren't a major factor in the school's overall performance
problems, but they played a role with some students.
Lawrence does provide a case study in how diabetic students put a drain
on school health workers.
Just four of the 310 children enrolled at Lawrence have been diagnosed
with Type II diabetes, Rucker said.
"Those four students last year generated 465 nursing events that had to
do with diabetes management and keeping the child healthy enough to go
to school," she said. "That's huge."
It's a story repeated throughout the district, but exacerbated in
schools with heavy American Indian enrollment.
"It is rapidly becoming the most labor-intensive service we have,"
Rucker said.
"We have 99 health assistants and 54 school nurses and there are some
sites where we are spending two or three hours a day with one or two
children who have diabetes."
Many diabetic children come from low-income families, so the disease has
the potential of becoming an enormous burden on the state's economy.
The "Eagle Books" can be a great tool for early education in this
epidemic.
Once they're in the hands of the children who most need them, it's up to
parents and teachers to ensure they take heed of this vital ancestral
message.
C.T. Revere can be reached at 573-4594 and at ctrevere@tucsoncitizen.com
<mailto:ctrevere@tucsoncitizen.com> . Address letters to P.O. Box 26767,
Tucson, AZ 85726-6767. His columns run Mondays and Thursdays