Recorded presentation

Tom Goldtooth, Bemidji Main Office, PO Box 485, Bemidji, MN 56619, 218- 751-4967, ien@igc.org

A presentation on a collaboration model between a Native American environmental justice organization, tribes, county and the federal Indian Health Service to seek remedy for mercury and other pollution from health care facilities within Indian country. This collaboration resulted in the Bemidji Area Office of the Indian Health Service developing a Mercury Reduction/Elimination Policy and a mercury thermometer exchange initiative. The presentation will mention the Health Care Without Harm coalition as a broad-based national and international campaign to reform the environmental practices of the health care industry and the role Native American communities and tribes played in this campaign. Time permitting, the presenter will talk about disparities in the health status of Native Americans as reported in the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report entitled, "Broken Promises: Evaluating the Native American Health Care System, 2004.

Learning Objectives:

• To understand federal trust responsibilities to American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes.
• To recognize how pollution affects Native American subsistence populations.
• To gain information on some significant health collaborations in which Native Americans are involved.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation