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Introduction
The resources on this page have been compiled in support of the annual Indian Health Services trip for first-year medical students. Resources marked with the open lock symbol are open access, which means they are freely available to anyone online and thus can be shared with patients.
Journals
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American Indian & Alaska Native Mental Health ResearchA forum for work on the cause, assessment, epidemiology, treatment, & prevention of alcohol, drug, & mental health disorders & related phenomena among American Indians & Alaska Natives
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International Journal of Indigienous HealthThe International Journal of Indigenous Health (IJIH) was established to advance knowledge and understanding to improve Indigenous health.
Web Resources
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American Indian and Alaska Native Health ProfilesPart of the US Dept of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health page, this tool provides data about health conditions in native populations around the country. The rest of the site contains useful information about cultural competence in healthcare as well.
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Association of American Indian PhysiciansAAIP strives to improve the overall health of American Indian and Alaskan Native Communities through a variety of programs.
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Indian Health ServicesResources for patients, providers, and communities about health, wellness, and health services in native communities
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Urban Indian Health InstituteData sets about urban Indian health and program overviews and resources
Books
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American Indian Health and Nursing
by
An extraordinary textbook that addresses the historical and national impact of healthcare and nursing on the American Indian... Although written for nurses, the usefulness of this healthcare textbook extends far beyond this professional practice. Anyone who wants to understand how healthcare is delivered to the American Indian population will be become well informed while immersed in this text. In this day of indigenizing the academy, including nursing, this textbook would be an excellent resource in Native Studies, Sociology, Psychology, Medicine, or Education." --Karen Doty-Sweetnam, Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Faculty of Health Studies, Brandon University, The Canadian Journal of Native Studies The first book to examine the profound disparities in American Indian health, and how they can be remedied, through a nursing lens The average life expectancy of a male born on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota today is somewhere in the mid-40s'the lowest life expectancy of all peoples not only in the United States but the entire Western Hemisphere. Written by and for nurses, this is the first text to focus exclusively on American Indian health and nursing. In fact, it is likely the only nursing book to even mention American Indian health as a distinct entity. The text addresses the profound disparities in policy, health care law, and health outcomes that affect American Indians, and describes how these disparities, woven into the cultural, environmental, historical, and geopolitical fabric of American Indian society, are responsible for the marked lack of well-being among American Indians. American Indian nurse authors, natives of nine unique American Indian cultures, address the four domains of health' physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional' within each region to underscore the many stunning inequalities of opportunity for health and well-being within the American Indian culture compared with Anglo culture. In an era of cultural competency, these expert nurse authors bring awareness of what is perhaps the least understood minority population in the United States. The text covers the history of American Indians with a focus on the drastic changes that occurred following European contact. Included are excerpts from relevant journal articles, historical reports, interviews with tribal health officials, and case studies. The book addresses the roots of American Indian nursing, including coverage of indigenous knowledge and traditional approaches to health and healing. It examines current issues surrounding American Indian nursing, nursing education, and health care within 10 distinct American Indian cultural populations, including a crucial discussion of the health care needs of American Indians living in urban areas. KEY FEATURES: Focuses exclusively on American Indian health and nursing' the first book to do so Written by American Indian nurses Covers four domains of health: physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional Highlights nine specific cultural areas spanning Indian Country, each with its own unique history and context, with urban spaces as a final area
Call Number: Baker-Berry Stacks RT86.54 .A44 2016ISBN: 9780826129840Publication Date: 2015 -
Global Indigenous Health: Reconciling the Past, Engaging the Present, Animating the Future byCall Number: E-bookISBN: 0816538948Publication Date: 2018
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Medicine Unbundled
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A shocking exposé of the dark history and legacy of segregated Indigenous health care in Canada. After the publication of his critically acclaimed 2011 book Drink the Bitter Root: A Writer's Search for Justice and Healing in Africa, author Gary Geddes turned the investigative lens on his own country, embarking on a long and difficult journey across Canada to interview Indigenous elders willing to share their experiences of segregated health care, including their treatment in the "Indian hospitals" that existed from coast to coast for over half a century. The memories recounted by these survivors--from gratuitous drug and surgical experiments to electroshock treatments intended to destroy the memory of sexual abuse--are truly harrowing, and will surely shatter any lingering illusions about the virtues or good intentions of our colonial past. Yet, this is more than just the painful history of a once-so-called vanishing people (a people who have resisted vanishing despite the best efforts of those in charge); it is a testament to survival, perseverance, and the power of memory to keep history alive and promote the idea of a more open and just future. Released to coincide with the Year of Reconciliation (2017), Medicine Unbundled is an important and timely contribution to our national narrative.
Call Number: E-bookISBN: 9781772031652Publication Date: 2017 -
Primary Care of Native American Patients
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This concise reference provides clinicians with the information they need to successfully treat and manage Native American patients. Emphasis is on the unique medical differences between Native American and standard U.S. (anglo) diseases and health care procedures.
Call Number: Dartmouth Library Depository RA448.5.I5 P75 1999ISBN: 9780750699891Publication Date: 1998 -
The Scalpel and the Silver Bear
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In a remarkable book that takes the reader on a spellbinding journey between two worlds, surgeon Lori Arviso Alvord describes her struggles to bring modern medicine to the Navajo reservation in Gallup, New Mexicoand to bring the values of her people to a medical care system in danger of losing its heart. Finding the solutions to modern medicine's most daunting problems was far from the mind of a girl from a small, dusty town on a Navajo reservation. But Lori Arviso Alvord would leave the traditional hogans of her people to attend the prestigious Stanford University Medical School and become the first Navajo woman surgeon. Only after conquering the high-tech realm of the operating room would this extraordinarily talented doctor realize something was missing from contemporary medical carean understanding of the whole person who has come seeking healing. The Scalpel and the Silver Beartells of Dr. Alvord's pioneering journey to become a woman surgeon, fighting the odds presented by her own culture and the unspoken rules that made surgery the territory of a privileged class of males. Then, having accomplished her dreams, the strong-willed young woman would find herself faced with a different challenge: learning another approach to medicine amid the Hataali, the medicine men of the Dine, the people we call Navajo. Here in this moving, enlightening, and provocative volume, Dr. Alvord teaches us how she merged the latest breakthroughs of science and methodology with the ancient tribal paths to recovery and wellness. In dramatic encounters while practicing reservation medicinea man whose intestine was pierced by a porcupine quill, which he insisted was placed there by an enemy's curse; a woman who had been struck by lightning and blamed her cancer on it; an all-night winter sing for a gravely ill young woman, attended by the whole communityDr. Alvord witnessed the power of belief to influence health, for good or for ill. She discovered that patients undergoing chemotherapy did better after having a native healer at bedside, and that the feelings of both the patient and the surgeon could affect recovery time, postsurgical complications, and even whether the patient lived or died. The secret, Lori Alvord discovered, lay in the Navajo philosophy of a balanced and harmonious life, called "Walking in Beauty." Her sharing of these ancient principles promises to have an immeasurable impact on today's doctors and patients by expanding the concept of mind-body healing to include the interconnectedness of all life. Personal, simply written, yet profoundly wise,The Scalpel and the Silver Bearjoins those few rare works, such asHealing and the Mind, whose ideas have changed medical practices and our understanding of the world.
Call Number: Matthews-Fuller Stacks RD27.35.A45 A3 1999ISBN: 9780553100129Publication Date: 1999 -
The Science of the Sacred
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Fascinating and full of research, this book explains how modern medical science has finally caught up to what traditional healing systems have known for centuries. Many traditional healing techniques and medicines are often assumed to be archaic, outdated, or unscientific compared to modern Western medicine. Dr. Nicole Redvers, a naturopathic physician and Native American from the Deninu K'ue First Nation, describes modern Western medical practices with comparisons to the evidence-informed approach of Indigenous healing practices and traditions from around the world, such as sweat lodges, fermented foods, Ayurvedic doshas, and meditation. Organized around different sciences, such as physics, genetics, and microbiology, Dr. Redvers points out the connection between traditional medicine and current research around epigenetics and quantum physics, for example, including over 600 citations. Redvers, who has traveled and worked with Indigenous groups around the world, shares the knowledge and teachings of health and wellness that have been passed down through the generations, while at the same time tying this knowledge with current scientific advances. Knowing that the science backs up the traditional practice allows us to have earlier and more specific interventions that integrate age-old techniques with the advances in modern medicine and technology.
Call Number: Baker-Berry Stacks R733 .R43 2019ISBN: 1623173361Publication Date: 2019
