| OCR Text |
Show Utah Health Scholars Learn at Navao Mountain By Jim Bapis University of Utah Public Re- lations Approaching Navajo Mountain over an unpaved road hewn from red rich sandstone, you begin to sense its importance to the Navajo nation, a people struggling to maintain the fabric of a culture little understood by Anglos. This dome-shap- ed modern-be- nt mass, a against a blue blue shadow sky, is the sacred Naatisis ann" of North Americas largest Indian tribe or Lords of the Earth" as they were called by the first white settlers of the Southwest. To the Navajos, some of ns whom live in anthill-lik- e at its base, the 10,416-fo- ot Utah mountain near Lake Powell represents a place of pilgrimage for prayer and rea journey to flection restore ties with nature. It ho-ga- ... is in scattered dwellings rim- ming the mountain that the traditional Navajo practices of dress, custom and beliefs have offered the most resistance to change. Even among those Navajos who have turned to Christianity, such as Sally Drake, the wife of a tribal councilman, identification with the soil reHer bronzen mains strong. face cracked by a searing sun, she speaks confidently of the survival of the Navajo culture, about her peoples traditional search for harmony with nature. We will not be changed," We are part of she says. the earth, part of the land. No matter where you go, you always want to come back to your people, because you know it is where you belong." That the Navajos possess an adaptive, resilient culture is illustrated in their growth from a tribe of 8,000 in the late 1860s to their present population of about 140,000, most of whom are young. Despite the Navajos exposure to intensive missionary efforts, their traditional religion, with its concentration on healing ceremonies, remains strong. The religion teaches that disease and other evils result when a person is out of harmony with nature. The remedy is to consult a medicine man for the proper rituals to counter the af- 1974 15, fliction. Many Navajos are members August of the Native American Church, a sect combining Christianity and Indian traditions. Peyote, a cactus containing hallucinogenic mescaline, plays an important role in the church ritual. It is a sacrament given considered to the Indians by God so that they may commune more directly. The medicine man heals us spiritually and mentally," says Regis Clauschee, a Navajo student attending the University of Utah who plans a career Record Juan Sajn in law. It was within this framework that a party of University of Utah health professors and students, legislators and health care providers recently spanned the length and breadth of the reservation in a week-lon- g study of Indian health problems. The workshop, directed by Dr. Marshall Kreuter and Jerry Braza, assistant professors of health, took them to Montezuma Creek, Aneth, Bluff, Monument Valley, Mexican Hat and Navajo Mountain in Utah and to the Navajo Tribal Council headquarters in Window Rock, Arizona, and Navajo Community College at Tsailie Lake, Arizona. a We learned things that only d look could teach us," said Dr. Kreuter, an indefatigable organizer, and the first-han- architect of a similar study last year of the urban poor. Aside from an important look at the Navajo culture, I believe we learned that the health problems are not so much unique as they are severe. Now we have to ask our- selves how we can improve health care delivery without a massive intrusion on their culture." The health and sociological problems enumerated to the University group came as no surprise and are well docu- mented in various government studies: the high rate of in fectious diseases caused by poor sanitation and poor nutrition; alcoholism; impetigo; LEISURE The SHARON ROGERS, the lone nurse at the Navajo Mountain Clinic, of Navajo children during a break in her busy schedule. Ms. Rogers, the daughter of Seventh Day Adventist the 1,000 missionaries, has spent more than a year administering to the health care needs of residents of Navajo Mountain. University of Utah photo. 0 diarrhea; the long distances Indians must travel over difficult roads to obtain care; enormous unemployment and the accompanying reliance on welfare; their suspicions toward white mans medicine and the need to make services available and acceptable by removing barriers of distance, culture and poverty. For many Navajos, western medicine still takes a back seat to the natural healing arts offered through the three- tiered structure of the medi- cine man, who heals and reaffirms social, medical and religious beliefs through a variety of ceremonies. The medicine man, who requires many years of training, is at the top of the structure because of his knowledge of the rites necessary to cure various illnesses. Next is a sort of diagnostician who goes into a trance (including the trembling of hands) to deter mine what kind of a ceremony is needed to cure a patient. Below him is the herbalist, a sort of druggist who can give temporary relief until the patient can afford a medicine man. Studies indicate a growing awareness among doctors in the use of medicine men to make hospitals more palatable to needy Indians, who have been appalled by what they deamed the impersonal loneliness of hospital life and its strange food. The workshop participants who visited some of the more than 100 trading posts on the reservation noted an apparent absence of nutritional foods, with soda pop, Kool-Ai- d, candy and crackers prevalent. Fruits and vegetables were of poor quality and scarce. At one store the only watermelon available, a small one, carried a $3.75 price tag. At isolated Navajo Mountain. COMPARE THESE VALUES... ANYWHERE SPECIALS visits with a group MULTI-COLO- R many of the Navajos health needs are handled by Sharon Rogers, the only nurse in a government funded clinic. She was employed by theUtahNav-aj- o Development Council about a year ago. Her success is evidenced by her rapport with the populace. In various meetings with the workshop participants, she stressed the need for an im- outreach program proved that would take medical personnel out to the scattered hogans and other dwellings to teach preventative medicine and check the progress of patients following their release from hospitals. Navajos serving as community health representatives and some Public Health Service nurses are presently involved in such field work but there is an obvious need, stressed by the Indians themselves, for a better program. ! WEB Folding) Chaise 6 x 15 Webs was adjustment. Comfortable 72 long, ' $12.98(0)99 now laun 5x3x3 Chair was webbing Strong aluminum frame $6.49 low as REAL STRETCH - OUT COMFORT ! |
