First Day at White Earth

Our first day at White Earth! 

We started the day meeting our fearless leaders Hannah and Kim from Tribal Health who were kind enough to make sure we were everywhere we were supposed to be for the day. We may look like adults, but let’s just say their guidance was very much appreciated. 

We began a short stop away from our hotel front door at the White Earth headquarters where we received a briefing from Leonard Wadena from Human Resources about the happening happenings on White Earth. We knew there was a lot going on, but I don’t think any of us could have predicted how many programs there are for the reservation’s 20,000+ residents. There is something for everyone—from kids to elders. Although I know my mom is reading this (Hi, Cherie) shaking her head saying who are you calling an elder, the Ojibwa people consider tribal members over the age of 55 elders. Being classified as an elder confers certain benefits to tribal members and demands an additional level of well-earned respect. 

Sadly for us, kids are on break this week so we won’t get to visit the schools as other groups have in past years, but Leonard explained that the Cola charter school on the reservation integrates traditional practices in the daily schedule. For example, when the children arrive each day they can choose to participate in smudging, a traditional burning of sage to ward away evil spirits. We will however get to participate in a Boys and Girls club event later in the week, but no spoilers on that yet. 

Leonard also introduced us to White Earth suboxone programs—medication assisted treatment for opioid addiction. He explained that there was one program on the reservation and one in Minneapolis that treats over 60 tribal members. The background was very much appreciated, as we will be attending home visits with nurses treating women enrolled in the MOMs program—a division of the reservation’s suboxone programs that specifically treats expecting and new mothers. 

After our briefing we were fingerprinted and photographed for our very own White Earth ID badges that were printed and delivered on the spot. We all agreed it was the most efficient badge distribution any of us had ever witnessed in healthcare. We hope they help us blend in a bit in the days to come. 

Next, Kim and Hannah guided us to Indian Health Services, where we solidified our shadowing schedules for the next three afternoons and got a glorious tour of the IHS facility. The walls of the building are covered with photographs of the Ojibwa people from up to 150 years ago. The walls were also adorned with star and woven blankets, a canoe, a headdress, and other pieces of traditional tribal artwork. We met some of the physicians we will be stalking over the next week before saying our goodbyes and heading back to the events center at the hotel for our evening activity. 

Cyndy Rastedt, our coordinator extraordinaire from Tribal Health organized a truly wonderful evening for us. The evening began with Jon, a spiritual healer, who shared the story of his journey with our group and provided a blessing for our travels and our meal. Over dinner, we got to hear from Rachel, the harm reduction coordinator at Tribal Health. Although she was incredibly modest, with a little coaxing from Cyndy we learned that Rachel was instrumental in overturning the caveats in Steve’s Law that prohibited nurses from administering non-prescribed naloxone. Thanks to her tireless work and advocacy, nurses at White Earth can now administer naloxone (aka Narcan—a drug that reverses an opioid overdose) free of fear of penalty. Again, thanks to Cyndy’s pride in her coworkers, we learned about the wonderful work Kim had done to institute the WeCare program—an initiative that seeks to coordinate the services for members of the White Earth nation. We will be working with WeCare in the coming days so more on that to come…

Which brings us to now, sitting in the hotel, reflecting on the day, writing thank you cards to some of our wonderful guides, and furiously completing course evaluations so we can contribute to the process of bettering medical school education for years to come (and get our winter term grades).