Learn About Treatment | Training Videos > Session 2: Unique Aspects of the Indian Health Care System
Presenter(s): Vicki Lowe (American Indian Health Commission of WA State)), Cindy Gamble (AIHC), Wendy Stevens (AIHC), Kathryn Akeah (AIHC)
Date: September 2022
This session, presented by Vicki Lowe, Executive Director, American Indian Health Commission of WA State (AIHC), Cindy Gamble (consultant, AIHC), Wendy Stevens (consultant, AIHC), and Kathryn Akeah (consultant, AIHC) describes the special trust responsibility and legal obligation of the federal government to:
- to ensure the highest possible health status for Indians and urban Indians;
- to raise the health status of Indians and urban Indians to at least the levels set forth in the goals contained within the Healthy People 2010 initiative;
- to increase the proportion of all degrees in the health professions and allied and associated health professions awarded to Indians so that the proportion of Indian health professionals in each Service area is raised to at least the level of that of the general population;
- to require that all actions under this chapter shall be carried out with active and meaningful consultation with Indian tribes and tribal organizations, and conference with urban Indian organizations;
- to ensure that the United States and Indian tribes work in a government-to-government relationship to ensure quality health care for all tribal members; and
- to provide funding for programs and facilities operated by Indian tribes and tribal organizations in amounts that are not less than the amounts provided to programs and facilities operated directly by the Service.
How these obligations have and have not been met was shared including current day challenges with managed care in WA. Pre-colonial Indigenous health status and traditional health practices were described along with the negative impacts of colonization. Present day examples of Tribal/Urban health programs executing sovereignty over health programs for their members included maternal child health, the Tribal/Urban Indian Health Immunization Coalition, and the Tribal/Urban behavioral health system. Download slides
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