Hello! I thought I'd just voice my support for this forum and I hope we get some great threads. I am part Lakota (maternal), but I was not raise in the native tradition, however, my mother's side of the family seems to have all of the usual NAI health issues (more than half have diabetes and almost everyone's had their gallbladder out).
I do understand that NAIs are a population that don't have access to many preventative measures (health screenings or education) that would certainly make a significant difference in health. I hope this will change.
Nemhain
I just wanted to let you know I am in support of this forum as well...it's always a great experience learning about new cultures! Before this forum come into being, I was doing a lot of reading about Indian Health Services, and the Nurse Practicioner that go and work with Native American people. Now, I am just doing my pre-requisets...and no where near ready to become an NP, but this was just so inspiring to me! So here comes my question(s)...
What advice would you have to people (nurses, NPs, students, etc) who want to work with the Native Americna population? Is it possible to work on the reservation? I have yet to come acrossed an answer to that in any of my research, and am unsure of how Native American's would take to a perosn who wasn't Native American working/(living?) on their Reservation.
I qouted Nemhain's post to because of the specific health issues raised that confront Native American people--diabetes and gall bladder problems. Is there a reason problems like that are so common among Native Americans? What other health problems would commonly be seen amongst this population?
