This
appendix provides information about the Navajo Nation, Chinle Comprehensive
Health Care Facility, and Diné College. It also includes specific
information about interviews conducted at these facilities as well
as in Albuquerque and Denver.
Source:
Leslie Hsu, 1998
Figure B-1: Monument Valley,
Navajo Nation.
Breathtaking
mesas, canyons, forests, and deserts swept by red sand offer a different
perspective on reservation-based American Indians. The largest reservation
encompasses more than 25,516 square miles in northern Arizona, western
New Mexico, and southern Utah, with three satellite communities
in central New Mexico.
The
Navajo Area Indian Health Service (IHS) Office, located in Window
Rock, Arizona, administers numerous clinics, health centers, and
hospitals, providing health care to 201,583 members of the Navajo
Nation. The Navajo Area Office coordinates with both the Phoenix
and Albuquerque IHS Area Offices for the delivery of health services
to the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni reservations because these reservations
are close to each other.
Comprehensive
health care is provided to the Navajo people through inpatient,
outpatient, contract, and community health programs centered in
6 hospitals, 7 health centers, and 12 health stations. School clinics
and Navajo tribal health programs also serve the community. The
6 hospitals range in size from 39 beds in Crownpoint, New Mexico,
to 112 beds at the Gallup Indian Medical Center in Gallup, New Mexico.
Health centers operate full-time clinics, some of which provide
emergency services. Some smaller communities have health stations
that operate only part-time.
A major
portion of the Navajo Nation healthcare delivery system is sponsored
by the Navajo Tribe itself, which operates the Navajo Division of
Health (NDOH) in Window Rock, Arizona. The NDOH, created in 1977,
has the mission of ensuring that quality and culturally acceptable
health care is available and accessible to the Navajo people through
coordination, regulation, and, where necessary, direct service delivery.
The NDOH also provides a variety of health-related services in the
areas of nutrition, aging, substance abuse, community health representatives
(e.g., outreach), and emergency medical services (e.g., ambulance
service).
Chinle
Comprehensive Health Care Facility
Located
near Canyon de Chelley National Monument, a sacred place for Navajo
peoples, Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility (CCHCF) is a
60-bed hospital that serves as the healthcare hub for the region.
The medical staff includes family physicians, internists, pediatricians,
general surgeons, obstetrician/gynecologists, anesthesiologists,
and a psychiatrist. Healthcare services are provided to approximately
37,000 active users.
Respect
for Navajo cultural traditions shapes most of the programs at this
facility. There is a hogan and a ceremonial room on the grounds,
and an Office of Native Medicine enables Native practitioners and
Western doctors to collaborate.
One-hour
interviews at CCHCF
- Ursula
Knoki-Wilson, CNM, is the Director of Midwifery Services.
- Marie
Nelson is the Health Promotion Coordinator.
- Johnson
Dennison is Coordinator of the Office of Native Medicine and a
traditional Navajo healer.
- Lucinda
Hogner is a public health nurse.
- Geraldine
Yazzne is an office automation assistant in the Public Health
Nursing Department.
- Karen
Thomas is a public health nurse.
Diné
College
Of
33 American Indian Higher Education Consortium member tribal colleges
and universities, Diné College was the first college established
by American Indians for American Indians. It remains the largest
and oldest. This college serves the entire Navajo Nation, with an
annual student enrollment of nearly 2,000 and 8 campuses. The Tsaile
campus is designed to reflect the strength and dignity of Navajo
culture and heritage, combining Navajo education with Navajo ceremonial
life.
Fifteen-minute
interviews at Diné College
A total
of 21 Navajo students were interviewed at Diné College Library
on the Tsaile campus, in a private room with a computer connected
to the Internet. There were 8 male students and 13 females. All
were Navajo.
One-hour
interview in Albuquerque
- Chief
Phil Crazy Bull is a Lakota medicine man.
One-hour
interviews in Denver
- Judy
Gobert is Director of Salish Kootenai College.
- Lena
Belcourt is a legislative analyst at Rocky Boys Reservation.
- Jerry
Pardilla is Executive Director of the National Tribal Environmental
Council.
- Dr.
Laura Williams is a member of the Juaneno-Acjachamen Nation and
Project Director of the Association of American Indian Physicians.
- Mervin
Savoy is Chairwoman of the Piscataway Conoy Confederacy and Subtribes,
Inc., of Maryland.
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