Day 2! Home Health, IHS, and Medicine Pouch making

Day 2 at White Earth got off to an early start with the crew getting up a bit before 7am and seeing a beautiful sunrise over the snowy horizon on our way to Tribal Health offices to meet the Home Health Nurses we would be shadowing for the first part of the day. The Home Health Nurses go out every day to meet folks in their own homes to check in, collect some vitals and monitor some chronic ailments, and generally help them get the care they need. I got to tag along with Ashleigh who grew up in the area and came back a few years ago to work with Tribal Health. Despite some trouble getting our small company car over a wee snow bank, we were able to visit 4 folks and fill up their pill dispensers, and make sure they had the support to continue living independently. I even found out that one gentleman’s mother had made and donated some of the sweetgrass baskets on display at the IHS clinic (more from IHS coming up soon!) The home health nurse program that White Earth offers to all residents of the area was one of the reasons I hoped to visit White Earth and the experience was more moving than I had expected! Sitting in people’s homes and taking the time to really check in felt like the nurses were really meeting people where they were to connect them with the broader healthcare system. My brief time shadowing Ashleigh underscored her belief that such home health programs were an unfortunately rare necessity in rural areas.

After regrouping at Tribal Health Headquarters and a quick lunch on-the-go, we headed over to IHS to shadow in Pediatrics, Occupational Therapy/Physical Therapy, Geriatrics, Pharmacy, and Preventative medicine (a recent addition!). I got to join the Geriatrics Nurse Practitioner, Sandy, who has also been in the area a long time, but commutes on the weekends from her house up near the Canadian border! The patients we saw, all of whom happened to be women, had a variety of medical ailments they came in for, but many seemed complicated by the patient’s social situations from having continuing childcare responsibilities into older age to having physically demanding jobs on top of body pains.

At 4, all the day’s patients were seen and it was finally time to head to a delicious spaghetti dinner with WECARE, an integrative health program run by Tribal Health that connects families with other services provided, including cultural education. For tonight, Lisa, from the tribal college, led a discussion on the use of traditional medicines, after which we helped make medicine pouches with the assembled families. After another exciting day spent all across the reservation, we headed home to rest and recharge before another early start tomorrow!