219479 Community-Based Projects: Integrating Traditional Knowledge to Address Contemporary Issues in Health and Education among the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI)

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Christopher Tsavatewa, MPH (Hopi) , Administration - Health Services, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
Lisa Lefler, PhD , Western Carolina University/CBNHP and The Center for Native Health, Cherokee, NC
Heidi Altman, PhD , Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Georgia Southern University and The Center for Native Health, Statesboro, GA
Roseanna Belt, MA , Cherokee Studies/EBCI Health Initiative and The Center for Native Health, Cullowhee, NC
As Tribal communities continue to address health and education issues that have manifested from generations of colonialism, the Center for Native Health uses a language-based model that brings traditional knowledge to bear on old problems. This poster session will highlight two projects underway that encourage the application of Cherokee language and Traditional knowledge to address two issues: 1) the lack of Native youth entering health careers and 2) the need to re-establish Indigenous midwifery and women's medicine as part of Tribal healthcare options for EBCI women. Tribal health administrators have voiced concern about how few local youth are obtaining college degrees and training for healthcare positions and how few Cherokee women are considering traditional options for childbirth and post-partum care. In working with Elders, Tribal agencies, and university partners, these initiatives garner the investment of the community by seeking and incorporating advice of Cherokee speakers regarding traditional epistemologies and by applying the concepts and models that are posited by those epistemologies.

Learning Areas:
Diversity and culture
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Social and behavioral sciences
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
1) Contrast a language-based model with other contemporary approaches 2) Describe/Discuss current workforce and service issues/needs and existing disparities 3) Demonstrate/evaluate coalition/constituency building strategies

Keywords: American Indians, Community-Based Health Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a participating board member working on program development and strategic planning with the Center for Native Health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.