Take A Loved One for a Checkup Day in American Indian Communities

Despite notable improvements in the overall health of the Nation in the last two decades, there continue to be striking disparities in the burden of illness and death experienced by minority populations, including American Indians and Alaska Natives. The White House and HHS leadership have called for a comprehensive national effort to overcome such disparities in health status. Elimination by the year 2010 of long-standing disparities in health status that affect racial and ethnic minority groups is one of the overarching goals of Healthy People 2010, the nation's public health agenda for the current decade. The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), through its cooperative agreement with OMH, has been solicited by the Office of Minority Health to coordinate and administer a project to reduce the impact of preventable diseases in tribal communities. The project, entitled: ”Closing the Health Gap 2005-Take A Loved One For A Checkup Day in American Indian Communities” is being conducted in collaboration with the Tribal Colleges and Universities and the Indian Health Service to promote health and reduce the impact of preventable diseases in tribal communities.

The following colleges and universities were selected by AIHEC for this project:

Si Tanka University, Eagle Butte, SD
Stone Child College, Box Elder, MT
Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM
College of Menominee Nation, Keshena, WI
Salish Kootenai College, Pablo, MT
Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa College, Hayward, WI
Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence, KS
Fort Belknap Community College, Harlem, MT
United Tribes Technical College, Bismarck, ND
Leech Lake Tribal College, Cass Lake, MN
Fort Peck Community College, Poplar, MT
Keewenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College, Baraga, MI
Blackfeet Community College, Browning, MT
Tohono O’odham Community College, Sells, AZ
Sisseton Wahpeton College, Agency Village, SD