With the summer halfway over--the end of my undergrad internship is quickly approaching. Unlike most of the other SURE interns, I have been working off site in Pine Ridge, SD. Working off site has made my internship a different experience and I have been embracing it. I am a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) and grew up in a town 45 miles from Pine Ridge. I have always been familiar with the town and the oyate (people); however, by working in town and attending community events, I have been learning so much. 

Just to start with some information: according to Red Cloud Indian School, the Pine Ridge Reservation is home to around 16,000 residents and more than 2.8 million acres. This makes the reservation the second largest in the US. With such a large geographic area, there are often more people than resources. Furthermore, around 80% of the residents are unemployed and almost half live below the poverty line. Besides economic issues, there are health disparities. The infant death rate in OST is nearly five times the US average. Life expectancy is also the lowest in the US (similar rates with India, Sudan, and Iraq). Many diseases also impact the reservation at epidemic rates such as diabetes and heart disease, along with obesity. When looking at youth, in particular, 88% have used alcohol, 31% have “seriously considered” suicide, 15% attempted suicide in the last year, while nearly 90% have tried cigarettes or marijuana. 

Before working in Pine Ridge, I knew the statistics but have gained a better understanding of the reality of these numbers. After attending multiple local health fairs, I gained knowledge about SO many resources available to the public that are aimed to lower these disparities (along with gaining a new water bottle, umbrella, chapstick, and t-shirt). The program I am working with this summer, CHAT, is directed toward teen girls to help prevent alcohol-exposed pregnancies by educating them about alcohol and contraceptive use. Another neat program is the Telehealth program. Telehealth has different sites set up across the reservation with webcams available for youth to utilize in order to receive different health services. One more program I became familiar with was the Methamphetamine & Suicide Prevention Initiative (MSPI). MSPI’s goal is to prevent meth use and suicide. They hold different early intervention activities for youth to reduce substance use and suicidal behavior. Besides these programs, there are others aimed towards diabetes, childcare, and so on.  

If you didn’t catch who the programs are aimed at, they all focus on the youth of the community. The youth are the future and it is important to keep them healthy and to have resources available for them. It is extremely empowering knowing that programs like these exist on the reservation. They have such potential to change the future of the community and the lives involved. I am excited for future years to see how these programs impact the health disparities that exist on the reservation. Besides working on my research skills, attending video conferences, and everything else the SURE internship has to offer, I am able to learn and share these different resources available to help people on the Pine Ridge Reservation--which is making my intern experience so much more rewarding. So get out, attend community events, and learn!!

By: Josie Drobny | Black Hills State University | SURE Intern | Hanson Lab

At the beginning of June, I was more than excited to welcome warmer temperatures and three back-to-back opportunities to share my insights on the work I do around community engagement with tribal communities to various audiences. As a native woman, a native mom, sister, and community member, you can't help but include, if not, emphasize your own experiences to help the audience better understand working with tribal communities. These experiences are personal and what I used to think were private and not to be shared but, instead, swept under the rug for hiding and safe keeping. However, sharing our experiences may help us better understand and heal from historical trauma.

My first opportunity was participating in a panel discussion with wonderful people from diverse perspectives speaking to the scientific community around the promise and perils of gene editing at CRISPRcon in Boston. We concluded the morning panel emphasizing the need for everyday conversations on CRISPR to occur more often and with those outside the scientific community. Let's just say there, is plenty of room for me to learn about gene editing and deepen my current knowledge around it, as well as the pros and cons for my relatives and future generations. I left Boston on a 5 AM flight (which is technically 4 AM Sioux Falls time and the coffee shop was not open; I repeat NOT open) headed to Kansas City to present to Tribal Leaders on the importance of community engagement around building research infrastructure. I will admit my introduction was a little rocky and I thought, “Get it together Melissa, you know the need for this work in our tribal communities!” Afterwards, a few business cards were exchanged to share ideas and set up a few calls to talk about the work happening in Indian country. I am excited for new opportunities and the possibilities to expand the work of CRCAIH!

I ended the week co-presenting with Serene Thin Elk to counselors from the state of SD on historical trauma and healing. I am not sure what happened but the frog in my throat was real - I cried. I lifted the rug because I am beginning to find comfort in front of strangers and share some personal experiences about growing up with various forms of trauma in my home and how healing is constant. Three opportunities to share my thoughts, my trauma, and the knowledge I have gained in my current role. I think I was laughing and crying when I said, “I must be comfortable in a room full of strangers, to cry, hoping one of you will hug me if I need it.” Healing is tears. Healing is laughing. Healing is being a part of your community. Wopila.

By: Melissa Buffalo, MS | Meskwaki/Lower Brule/Crow Creek | CRCAIH CEID

The influx of refugees, especially in the past decade, has resulted in many states partnering alongside the government to support them and incorporate them into our society. Thirty-two states currently administer refugee resettlement through state government offices, while five other states use a public-private partnership to administer funds. Here in South Dakota, we participate in the alternative Wilson-Fish program, which means that the federal government contracts with nonprofits to distribute money. The Department of Social Services here only handles the refugee cash medical assistance through Medicaid while Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota administers the rest.

The current refugee population breakdown in South Dakota includes individuals from Myanmar, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Sudan, and several other countries. Lutheran Social Services helps connect thousands of refugees each year to counseling, residential help, foster care, and more. The Center for New Americans aided 30,821 refugees and families in 2017 alone, while the broader services were used 61,144 times. Just under half of the refugees they care for are 18 years old or younger, and many come to Sioux Falls to be connected with missing family members. One story about a Somali man, in particular, stands out: he has resided in Sioux Falls for three years after having escaped the violence in Somalia as a teenager and then living as a refugee in Kenya for some time. His goal is to become a naturalized citizen, and the services here in Sioux Falls are helping him do just that. In order to gain his citizenship, he has to be a permanent resident for five years and have a working knowledge of English, which he is gaining through the programs at LSS. There he takes English classes and citizenship classes to learn about the history and government of the United States. Alongside him, there are currently 120 former refugees working with the LSS on the path to citizenship.

Mothers and young pregnant refugees are still a concern here in Sioux Falls. Health disparities within refugee health and care have arisen everywhere, South Dakota is no exception. Care providers are working hard with patients who have uncommon diseases and complications, even with little to no background training. The largest problem, however, arises out of a lack of cultural competency. There is no class in medical school for learning about Somali or Bhutanese culture. A program dedicated to educating health care providers on pregnancy and birthing practices more reflective of other cultures will go a long way to alleviate some of the disparities being seen across the state, and there is a strong desire to learn and care for these women we are welcoming into our towns and cities. The outlook for the future is bright, and it is up to our nurses, doctors, midwives, and community to take the extra step to open minds and arms and incorporate culture and healing into their experiences here in South Dakota.

By: Natalie LeMoss | Cornell University | SURE Intern | Hanson Lab

A gentle blanket of clouds accompanied us on our way to the annual Fort Thompson Health Fair on the Crow Creek Reservation at the Indian Health Center, just outside of Chamberlain, South Dakota. I had been invited to join the excursion just a day before as part of my REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) in Native American Population Health. I’m from Connecticut and love to travel and embrace diverse cultures so this was an easy ‘yes’ for me.    

I had done my research the night before the Health Fair so that I could learn about Crow Creek Reservation. I learned that the Crow Creek Reservation lies adjacent to the Big Bend Dam, which was constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the 1960s as part of the Pick-Sloan Plan authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944. The Pick-Sloan plan was enacted to utilize the water resources of the Missouri River Basin in order to provide a watershed to distant areas affected by drought and also to provide a source of energy through the use of a dam. The resulting reservoir, Lake Sharpe, subsequently created a series of issues for those living nearby causing members of the Crow Creek/Fort Thompson and Lower Brule reservations to become dislocated. The now water-covered fertile lands resulted in the loss of farming potential for these tribes and equally negatively affected economic conditions for those inhabiting this area of land which spans nearly 57,000 acres. The land had been previously used to produce food and medicine for locals. Overall, the size of the Crow Creek reservation was dramatically reduced.

As I entered the Health Fair at IHS, I was greeted by particularly happy and smiling faces as well as lots of color and warm, engaging and delightful personalities. I knew I found my niche and that I was in the right place. It was a very happy day indeed. The sun was shining the most it had in a long while. I was pleasantly surprised by how many attendees (local Fort Thompson residents and guests) were curious to find out what our booth was about. It was personally my first time visiting a Native American community so it was a particularly unique experience for me. The host humored us with his jokes and focused us with his wisdom as he blessed the day ahead and all those who attended that they be in good health. Attendees visited dozens of diverse booths and various buildings such as the Wowasake Wellness Center, which includes a full fitness room. Overall, the fair was information dense and prompted many conversations on diverse topics relating to health and wellness promotion.

In the end, I was left with profound feelings of hope and assurance that our research is moving in the right direction. Aside from political and sovereignty issues related to approving tribal research, I was amazed at how hungry individuals were to learn about and embrace novel topics of health and wellness. Ecstatic smiles thanked and commended the lead researchers at our booth (Char Green-Maximo and Jessica Heinzmann) for the work they do. We must continue to break the stigma of ‘Western’ research in tribal communities by showing our ‘humanness’ and connecting with locals. Forging long-term sustainable and healthy relationships is the foundation to solidarity. Again, it’s the intentions one sets that determines the outcomes. I leave this post with one message, one I was reminded of as we began our trip back to Sioux Falls: to act with Dignity, honor and respect and to embrace those cultures that stand before us and to be inclusive of the values of all individuals especially those of the Native Americans who embody South Dakota.

By: Kelly Bielonko | Eastern Connecticut State University | SURE Student | Griese Lab