Washington tribal leaders yesterday [Thursday] thanked U.S. Senator Patty Murray for securing money for a project aimed at improving the health of American Indian people.
During a stop at Washington State University Spokane, Murray toured the Center for Native American Health, which houses WSU’s Native American Health Sciences program. She met one-on-one with a small group of American Indian and Alaska Native medical students.
Then she saw the space that will benefit from the new $1.47 million appropriation Murray inserted into the federal building. That will allow WSU to create an Indigenous Health Simulation Center, which will include state-of-the-art exam spaces for medical students who want to learn the nuances of treating Native patients.
Later, during a roundtable discussion, a small group of tribal leaders talked about how the center will help instructors teach medical students how to properly care for Native patients.
“What’s awesome about this school is we can grow our and they’re going to learn how to talk to our people,” said Andy Joseph, Jr., a council member from the Colville Confederated Tribes.
Joseph says communication with Native patients is sometimes difficult if the patients don’t trust their providers.
“Do you teach them communication as well so they get people to talk?” Murray asked.
Yes, said WSU officials. They say the center will provide interested students with information about Native medicine and healing practices.
Stephen Kutz, a Cowlitz tribal leader who directs the health clinic for the Suquamish Tribe, says Native leaders hope the WSU program will lead to better, more culturally appropriate care for tribal patients, both in Washington and around the nation.
“What we’re doing here, if other people start replicating what we have,” he said.
“If they see it’s successful,” Murray interjected.
“If they see it’s successful, some of the people from here will go and work elsewhere and they will take that skill with them,” Kutz said.
One university official told Murray that WSU hopes to have its simulation center up and running within a year.
While in Spokane, Murray also visited Maddie’s Place, a nursery for infants who are exposed to dangerous drugs, such as heroin and fentanyl, in utero. The transitional care nursery provides babies with the care they need as their bodies withdraw from the toxic effects of the drugs. She visited with staff and volunteers who care for the babies and the mothers who live there and bond with their newborns.
