Post by Okwes on Jan 13, 2008 18:28:01 GMT -5
Tribes blend modern, traditional treatments to improve health
June 8, 2007, 12:56 PM EDT
www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--indianhealth060\
8jun08,0,5961756.story
<http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--indianhealth06\
08jun08,0,5961756.story>
ONEIDA, N.Y. -- Joellene Adams is nearing 70 and sees her doctor on the
St. Regis Mohawk Reservation regularly for her diabetes medicine.
She also is a faithful follower of the tribe's traditional healers and
sees no conflict with turning to them for treatment of other ills.
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<http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/trb.newsday/news/local/wire/ny;ptype=s;s\
lug=ny-bc-ny--indianhealth0608jun08;rg=ur;ref=topixnet;sz=300x250;tile=2\
;ord=3122075?>
"The medicine is the only way to treat the diabetes in my body but the
old ways also help the mind and the spirit. Life requires balance," said
Adams, one of 150 Iroquois elders at a recent health conference for
American Indian senior citizens at the Oneida Indian Nation in central
New York, cradle of the powerful Iroquois Confederacy.
American Indians have long experienced more health problems compared to
other groups of Americans. Inadequate education, disproportionate
poverty, discrimination in the delivery of health services and cultural
differences are among the factors contributing to their poor health,
according to the U.S. Indian Health Services.
"We have more access to doctors and drugs now than we've ever had. We
need to find different ways to heal," said Dr. Marilyn Cook, a Cree who
practices on the Canadian side of the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.
"Western medicine is good. We can't do without it," Cook said. "But we
have our own ways of healing. We have our own ways of looking after
ourselves. We sometimes forget that."
At St. Regis, which straddles the U.S.-Canadian border, traditional
healers no longer work in secrecy but instead work out of the
reservation clinics, alongside western-trained doctors like Cook.
"We consider our traditional medicine man an integral part of our health
services," said Debbie Terrance, health director of the clinic on the
New York side of the reservation, which serves more than 8,000 Mohawks.
At St. Regis, traditional healer Richard Cook _ who is not related to
Marilyn Cook _ works in the clinic's mental health department, Terrance
said.
"There's not enough of him. We could keep four more of him busy," said
Terrance, who has proposed building a new wing for just traditional
treatments, which include pipe ceremonies, sweatlodges, herbal remedies
and retreats with elders.
While Richard Cook is the only traditional healer on staff at St. Regis,
there are others living on the reservation, often with their own
specialties, Terrance said. Just like western-trained doctors, Cook will
frequently refer patients to other healers with different expertise.
While they might not work out of a clinic setting, traditional healers
can be found among any of the other five Iroquois tribes in New York _
the Onondagas, Cayugas, Oneidas, Senecas and Tuscaroras _ according to
health officials with those tribes.
"Western doctors concentrate on fixing the body. They tend to put these
things in separate categories and don't treat them holistically, but
existence is a spiritual experience. All these facets needed to be taken
as a whole," said Marilyn Cook.
According to the Indian Health Service, American Indians have a life
expectancy that is 2.4 years less than the U.S. average of 76.9 years
for all races and die at a rate nearly 50 percent higher than the
national average for people their age. Some of the highest death rates
occur from tuberculosis (500 percent higher), alcoholism (350 percent)
and diabetes (200 percent), said Dr. Bruce Finke, who serves as the
IHS's elder health care consultant.
Many of the ailments afflicting Indians are linked to environmental
stresses and poor diet, Marilyn Cook said.
"Diabetes is up because stress is up. When stress is up, blood pressure
is up, there's more sugar in the blood stream. First Peoples have seen
their environments polluted, they've seen their fresh food sources
replaced by processed and fast foods. Physicians don't know how to deal
with these problems except to prescribe drugs. Western medicine focuses
on the magic pill," Cook said.
Ceremonies are especially important, Cook said, because they lend
stability to life and provide focus and familiarity, particularly for
younger generations concerned about the future.
Moving traditional healers into the mainstream has grown steadily over
the last decade, said Dr. Joy Dorscher, director of the University of
Minnesota's Center of American Indian and Minority Health. A number of
Minnesota's tribes offer both traditional and modern treatments at their
clinics, she said.
It wasn't until the 1979 American Indian Freedom of Religion Act that
tribes were allowed to legally conduct many of their ceremonies and
traditional healing practices, she said.
"It opens up conversation between the healer and the doctor to look at
the person as a whole and see all the needs of a patient," said
Dorscher, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewas in North
Dakota.
"But traditional healers also empower the patient to help themselves.
They are more of a conduit to help the patient find a way to do that
appropriately," Dorscher said.
The center was established in 1987 to help recruit American Indian
students for the university's medical schools. While American Indians
make up 2.8 percent of the U.S. population, they accounted for only 0.3
percent of students in the nation's medical schools, according to the
2000 census.
Besides producing Indian doctors, the center also tries to sensitize
western-trained doctors about the value of traditional treatments,
Dorscher said.
"One traditional healer once told me that for indigenous people, western
medicine is the alternative medicine," she said.
June 8, 2007, 12:56 PM EDT
www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--indianhealth060\
8jun08,0,5961756.story
<http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--indianhealth06\
08jun08,0,5961756.story>
ONEIDA, N.Y. -- Joellene Adams is nearing 70 and sees her doctor on the
St. Regis Mohawk Reservation regularly for her diabetes medicine.
She also is a faithful follower of the tribe's traditional healers and
sees no conflict with turning to them for treatment of other ills.
<http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v8/356c/3/0/%2a/y%3B78010105%3B0-0%\
3B0%3B12927808%3B4307-300/250%3B17527953/17545848/1%3B%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fht\
tp://www.spa-sauna.com>
<http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v8/356c/3/0/%2a/y%3B78010105%3B0-0%\
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tp://www.spa-sauna.com>
<http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/trb.newsday/news/local/wire/ny;ptype=s;s\
lug=ny-bc-ny--indianhealth0608jun08;rg=ur;ref=topixnet;sz=300x250;tile=2\
;ord=3122075?>
"The medicine is the only way to treat the diabetes in my body but the
old ways also help the mind and the spirit. Life requires balance," said
Adams, one of 150 Iroquois elders at a recent health conference for
American Indian senior citizens at the Oneida Indian Nation in central
New York, cradle of the powerful Iroquois Confederacy.
American Indians have long experienced more health problems compared to
other groups of Americans. Inadequate education, disproportionate
poverty, discrimination in the delivery of health services and cultural
differences are among the factors contributing to their poor health,
according to the U.S. Indian Health Services.
"We have more access to doctors and drugs now than we've ever had. We
need to find different ways to heal," said Dr. Marilyn Cook, a Cree who
practices on the Canadian side of the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.
"Western medicine is good. We can't do without it," Cook said. "But we
have our own ways of healing. We have our own ways of looking after
ourselves. We sometimes forget that."
At St. Regis, which straddles the U.S.-Canadian border, traditional
healers no longer work in secrecy but instead work out of the
reservation clinics, alongside western-trained doctors like Cook.
"We consider our traditional medicine man an integral part of our health
services," said Debbie Terrance, health director of the clinic on the
New York side of the reservation, which serves more than 8,000 Mohawks.
At St. Regis, traditional healer Richard Cook _ who is not related to
Marilyn Cook _ works in the clinic's mental health department, Terrance
said.
"There's not enough of him. We could keep four more of him busy," said
Terrance, who has proposed building a new wing for just traditional
treatments, which include pipe ceremonies, sweatlodges, herbal remedies
and retreats with elders.
While Richard Cook is the only traditional healer on staff at St. Regis,
there are others living on the reservation, often with their own
specialties, Terrance said. Just like western-trained doctors, Cook will
frequently refer patients to other healers with different expertise.
While they might not work out of a clinic setting, traditional healers
can be found among any of the other five Iroquois tribes in New York _
the Onondagas, Cayugas, Oneidas, Senecas and Tuscaroras _ according to
health officials with those tribes.
"Western doctors concentrate on fixing the body. They tend to put these
things in separate categories and don't treat them holistically, but
existence is a spiritual experience. All these facets needed to be taken
as a whole," said Marilyn Cook.
According to the Indian Health Service, American Indians have a life
expectancy that is 2.4 years less than the U.S. average of 76.9 years
for all races and die at a rate nearly 50 percent higher than the
national average for people their age. Some of the highest death rates
occur from tuberculosis (500 percent higher), alcoholism (350 percent)
and diabetes (200 percent), said Dr. Bruce Finke, who serves as the
IHS's elder health care consultant.
Many of the ailments afflicting Indians are linked to environmental
stresses and poor diet, Marilyn Cook said.
"Diabetes is up because stress is up. When stress is up, blood pressure
is up, there's more sugar in the blood stream. First Peoples have seen
their environments polluted, they've seen their fresh food sources
replaced by processed and fast foods. Physicians don't know how to deal
with these problems except to prescribe drugs. Western medicine focuses
on the magic pill," Cook said.
Ceremonies are especially important, Cook said, because they lend
stability to life and provide focus and familiarity, particularly for
younger generations concerned about the future.
Moving traditional healers into the mainstream has grown steadily over
the last decade, said Dr. Joy Dorscher, director of the University of
Minnesota's Center of American Indian and Minority Health. A number of
Minnesota's tribes offer both traditional and modern treatments at their
clinics, she said.
It wasn't until the 1979 American Indian Freedom of Religion Act that
tribes were allowed to legally conduct many of their ceremonies and
traditional healing practices, she said.
"It opens up conversation between the healer and the doctor to look at
the person as a whole and see all the needs of a patient," said
Dorscher, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewas in North
Dakota.
"But traditional healers also empower the patient to help themselves.
They are more of a conduit to help the patient find a way to do that
appropriately," Dorscher said.
The center was established in 1987 to help recruit American Indian
students for the university's medical schools. While American Indians
make up 2.8 percent of the U.S. population, they accounted for only 0.3
percent of students in the nation's medical schools, according to the
2000 census.
Besides producing Indian doctors, the center also tries to sensitize
western-trained doctors about the value of traditional treatments,
Dorscher said.
"One traditional healer once told me that for indigenous people, western
medicine is the alternative medicine," she said.