Health Care Careers Promoted for Native American High School Students

SPOKANE, Wash. — High school students from nine western Native American tribes will learn about nursing and health-care issues June 19-25 during the ninth annual Na-ha-shnee Native American Summer Nursing Institute sponsored by the Washington State University Intercollegiate College of Nursing.

The weeklong course addresses the history, culture and health care needs of Native Americans, and is designed to pique the interest of students considering nursing as a career.

Part of the course curriculum will be geared toward helping students gain an understanding for the value and role of advanced math and science coursework – including studies in science, math, anatomy and physiology – in preparing to work in the field of health care.

Aged 15 to18, the participating students include 12 first-year attendees and five attendees returning for their second or third year at the annual summer institute. They represent the Kalispel, Lummi, Miwok, Nez Perce, Shoalwater Bay, Tlingit/Haida, Warm Springs, Yakama and Colville Confederated tribes.

The students will stay in residence halls at Whitworth College, where they will begin the week with a team-building exercise conducted by two Native American health care professionals from the Nez Perce tribe.

“Most of the experiences the students will have during their week will be facilitated by native nurses,” said Robbie Paul, Native American coordinator and Na-ha-shnee camp director for the College of Nursing. “There’s a recognized need for native-prepared nurse professionals to serve our own people. If we can mentor students to become leaders by working side by side with role models and community tribal members, they will be well-prepared to work in a Native health profession. The concept of giving back to your community is a fundamental ideology of Native American culture.”

First-year student Jasmine Jackson, from the Colville Tribe, wants to help people and gain the knowledge needed to become a registered nurse.

“I am very interested in helping cancer patients because my grandpa recently died from stomach cancer, and my grandma has breast cancer. To be able to stand up and give patients a fighting chance is a lifetime goal I am working to achieve, and this camp will be a great start,” said Jackson.

The returning students are particularly committed to pursuing a career in nursing.

“I want to work in the emergency room or nursery for Indian Health Services,” said Cyrille Mitchell, an 18-year-old third-year student from the Warm Springs Tribe. “The Na-ha-shnee Camp will help me to make a decision on which health-care field I want to work in.”

Native American nurses will present information on a variety of topics, including wellness, the Medicine Wheel, living a balanced life and other approaches to native health-care needs. Several nursing professionals, including two current native undergraduate and one native graduate student from the College of Nursing, will attend camp this year, volunteering their time and providing perspective for the next generation of Native American nurses. In addition to pursuing nursing-related studies, students will participate in crafts, wellness and balance, spiritual, physical, emotional and mental activities during the week.

“The importance of combining Western medical models with native traditions is essential,” said Paul. “The Native students have to maintain their cultural values and traditions while still recognizing the culturally-appropriate health care models, and to be able to maintain our Native traditions amid pervasively Western practices.”

With more than two million Native Americans living in the United States. Washington ranks sixth among the states with a population of 93,000 native peoples. Although most of them reside within the Puget Sound region, there are some 38,000 Native Americans living in the Plateau Tribes region, which extends from the Cascade Mountains to the Rocky Mountains and includes central and eastern Washington, northern Idaho, eastern Oregon and parts of Montana.

Participating students do not pay for the Na-ha-shnee Summer Nursing Institute experience. The camp is sponsored and supported by the WSU Intercollegiate College of Nursing, Trude Smith Fund, Group Health Community Foundation, Premera Blue Cross and the WSU Creighton Endowment for Native American Students. The week will culminate June 24 with a banquet at Whitworth College, featuring an honor drum and prayer from Pat Moses of the Spokane Tribe.

The result of an earlier student leadership exercise to give the summer institute a Native American-sounding name, Na-ha-shnee is an amalgamation of the words Native American High School Summer Nursing Institute.  It has no literal translation in any tribal language.

Established in 1968, the WSU Intercollegiate College of Nursing is the nation’s first, oldest and most comprehensive nursing education consortium. The College of Nursing offers baccalaureate, graduate and professional development course work to nursing students enrolled through Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga University, WSU and Whitworth College. Each year, the college educates more than 650 graduate and upper-division undergraduate students and prepares more entry-level nurses than any other educational institution in the region. For more information about the WSU Intercollegiate College of Nursing, visit the college Web site at nursing.wsu.edu.

Editor’s note: This event features excellent visual opportunities. Call Susan Nielsen at 509/991-9151 for specific dates and times when students will be in the classroom and working alongside Native American health professionals and educators.