Native American Health Symposium - Oklahoma City

I was really looking forward to the Native American Health Symposium that took place on July 9 in Oklahoma City. Kudos to Dr. Steve Prescott for proposing the symposium and hosting a wonderful welcome dinner for us the night before, and to the team at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation for organizing the flawless event.

Dr. Steve Prescott with Jenny, Martina, and Bret S.

Health care is a really important issue I haven’t studied in depth, and I was curious to learn about the unique ways it effects the American Indian population. The speakers focused on how to address dementia, arthritis, and diabetes that are disproportionately impacting Native communities, and how to work with traditional elders who might have different perceptions about ailments and treatments than their caregivers.

I was particularly struck by Kenneth Copeland’s presentation on youth obesity and diabetes. He elucidated connections between children’s health and the riders’ main focus areas of environmental and Native American issues that I didn’t anticipate. Increasing numbers of children are developing Type II Diabetes Mellitus, due to decreasing physical education programs and the lack of readily available nutritious food. He called upon Udallers to seek holistic solutions to these problems. We need to rethink our city and town planning to provide sidewalks and safe places for children to exercise outdoors, decrease toxins in the environment, and increase access to nutritious foods while eliminating products with high amounts of corn syrup, refined sugars, and palm oil.

By: Jennifer Baldwin