cholul

With Native American heritage marching down on my sons (now almost 40 and the fathers of sons themselves) from all directions, I got busy and found out as much as I could about as many health issues as I could... one of which was the old myths about Indians not mixing with alcohol. By the way, did you know we still have a couple of states with laws against selling "firewater" to "Indians"? What I discovered was that the combative behavior we see, in Native Americans exposed to alcohol - as well as some of the mythical "laziness" of Native Americans, is the result of acute, alcohol and/or carbohydrate induced hypoglycemia and, although the "end of the story" is the same, Native Americans are not "true" alcoholics at all. I easily educated my sons to leave alcohol and simple carbohydrates alone... but this message has still not gotten out to isolated reservations where poor Native Americans are still having to "eat cheap"... which translates to a diet heavy with simple carbohydrates. If you've got a combative diabetic on your hands - suspect acute hypoglycemia as the initial cause. This doesn't alter treatment, but does explain some of the behaviors of which myths are made.

I am from Louisiana - a Native American Katrina survivor now displaced in Arkansas. I would like to thank the hundreds, if not thousands, of Western Native Americans who came to help us after Katrina - bus after bus after bus... they stayed weeks at a time, diging us out. It was backbreaking labor and they were worn out by the time they went home and were replaced by fresh tribal replacements. I have never been so thankful to see so many "Indians" in my life! I may have been more aware of them than most folks - but, it seems to me that they were the largest group of responders - and we thank them more than they will ever know.

Thank you so much for posting that word of caution. If anyone is doing multicultural nursing, please watch your patients carefully - especially those from Native American, Latino, and Asian cultures. My own Native American mother nearly killed my father IN the hospital !!! We all used to joke that she was "practicing medicine without a license"... then it turned deadly when he was sick and she was bringing all manner of herbal remedies into the hospital. Combined with what his physicians were giving him, it is a miracle we saved him at all! Needless to say, his physician was not amused and all Mother accomplished was to turn a whole lot of health care providers against Native American healing.

Believe it or not, as the actual, alive and well, family of "the Chief," all we really asked was that they correct whatever that garb was that he was wearing, correct the so-called tribal dances - and stop flailing about - literally - like Big Bird on drugs. Then, he could have been not only "fun" - but something to be proud of too. They got ugly - No problem - we took em to court.

Multicultural nursing is often complicated by this "part Indian" issue. I know one alcoholic patient - nice, middle class, American accountant - stays "confused" because, as it turns out, all of his grandmothers were "passing" and he can't believe the Christian dogma in which he now lives because they sent him to church but then "corrected" his religious beliefs after he got home. Result? We get yet another substance abusing patient to deal with. This is the best "part Indian" assessment I have ever seen and certainly something to keep in mind: http://www.nativetech.org/tate/indian.html

That school had their mascot wearing the "garb" of the wrong tribe and flailing about like Big Bird on drugs. The school said (a) he never was a real person and (b) if he was, he wouldn't have any living descendents today. His name was Mamenthouensa, a.k.a. Francois-Xavier Rouensa. He was the Chief of the Illiniwek Confederation of Five Tribes and a personal friend of the King of France. (Letters preserved in the Court of France). As for his not having any descendents today - my grandsons, and the thousands of other children across this nation who descend from him are not exactly invisible. They have a proud heritage and there would have been no problem at all if that school hadn't been arrogant about the issue, if they had used the correct mode of dress, and the correct dances. We were offended by the disrespect they showed our ancestor and ended up having to force them to stop.

I think it is hilarious that one of the last things the AD RNs are told, before graduation, at a nursing school near where I live is: "Find an "old" LPN and stick with him or her!" They win on "technique" every time! After 26 years in nursing education, research, and writing, I honestly believe the "best" nurse is one who started as an LPN, moved on to an AD... kept working through the BSN ...and then a graduate degree. ...and if one's NP took that track - well, you can bet your bottom dollar you've got just about the best health care provider alive today!

New research studies, out of South Africa and Kenya, show that circumcision reduces the risk for contracting HIV by as much as 60%. That's great news - but - this non-emergency, totally elective surgery then becomes a topic for the "ethics" column because the baby is not autonomous and cannot give consent. It ends up being a personal decision that we just have to respect, no matter which decision the parents make. Just be sure you have the latest research and are making an informed decision for your baby - and remember... if you decide yes OR no... you are making a decision for the man he will be someday (even if, today, he is your own baby).