Our Story is Your Story
Our communities, our clinics, and our people have powerful stories that need to be heard. Browse through these inspiring stories, and click here to share information about a health program that has made a difference in your community.
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma
“I have the best job in the world,” said Steve Craig, a Peer Recovery Support Specialist and Project Director at the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma’s Perkins Family Clinic. According to Steve, the Clinic’s thoughtful coordination of care and innovative approach to providing peer services has had a large impact on the community. […]
Oklahoma City Indian Clinic
In just four years, staff at the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic (OKCIC) have built a successful Peer Recovery Program that meets the needs of clients recovering from substance use disorders (SUDs). With two full-time Peer Recovery Support Specialists, who each see about 30 clients a month, OKCIC has become a leader in harm reduction-based peer support. […]
The Peaceful Warrior’s Way
Starting a Peer-led Movement to Address Substance Misuse The Peaceful Warrior’s Way (PWW) Recovery Coaching in Tahlequah, Oklahoma opened its doors in July 2020 to support community members experiencing substance use disorders. Since then, PWW’s team – made up of… […]
Nooksack Diabetes Program
Taking a High Tech, Culturally-Response Approach to Care “After attending the Special Diabetes Program for Indians Conference in 2019, we were 100% more energized,” said Grayce Hein, a Nurse Practitioner and one of four staff from Nooksack Tribal Health Clinic… […]
New Behavioral Health Aide Program is Growing Tribes’ Capacity to Offer Culturally- Specific Mental Health Services
Growing up on the Lower Elwha Klallam Reservation, Amy Redner-Reed saw how intergenerational trauma affected her people’s well-being. Since childhood Amy aspired to work in behavioral health to help her people heal, just as her mother and grandmother had. Today, Amy is a mother, a wife, and one of the first individuals in Washington State on the cusp of completing a new culturally-specific Behavioral Health Aide Education Program. […]
didgwálič Wellness Center
“Our mission is to improve outcomes with quality health care by removing barriers to treatment” – these words are emblazoned on the wall of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s didgwálič Wellness Center, greeting everyone who enters. Since the wellness center’s opening in 2018, didgʷálič has been immensely successful in fulfilling this mission. […]
Experts are Sounding the Alarm
The latest data released from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is distressing, showing that from 2015-2019 STIs in America were skyrocketing. During this period, chlamydia increased by 19 percent and gonorrhea by 56 percent. Even more alarming, syphilis jumped 74 percent. […]
Treatment as Prevention at Gallup Indian Medical Center
At times, watershed moments in medicine are proceeded by something as tiny as a pill. For Dr. Jonathan (Jon) Iralu, who began his career at Gallup Indian Medical Center at the peak of the AIDS epidemic, antiretroviral treatment (ART) was nothing short of a miracle. […]
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Rising Rates of Syphilis and Congenital Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that has been long nicknamed “The Great Pretender,” as its symptoms change over time and it can mimic many other diseases. […]
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Harm Reduction
“Your life is sacred, and you are beloved,” said Jessica Rienstra, a Case Manager for Indian Country ECHO. “Everyone who walks through the clinic doors should feel that way.” Jessica, a Registered Nurse, supports Indian Country ECHO Programs. […]
Project Red Talon
It has been said that when an Elder walks on, knowledge as vast as a library is lost. Although this is true, when Native youth are healthy, balanced, and well-tended to, they can become bearers of their Elders’ wisdom, carriers of their peoples’ stories, and embodiments of their cultural teachings. At present, though, some of our young people are in need of our tending. […]
HOPE Rising
When Dr. Jonathan (Jon) Iralu was a medical resident at Harvard in the early 1990’s, the AIDS epidemic was at its peak, and Boston was hit hard. This experience, although challenging and full of loss, was formative for Jon, who spent nearly three decades researching and treating infectious diseases, including HIV, at Gallup Indian Medical Center. […]
Lummi Tribal Health Center
In the final months of 2021, Lummi Nation was among several communities in northwest Washington to be hit hard by historic flooding and major snowstorms. Both presented significant hurdles for ensuring access to Lummi Tribal Health Center. “The solution,” said Sheryl Nickelson, a Nurse Manager at the center, “was community.” […]
Dental Health Aid Therapists
While working as a dentist in Bethel, Alaska in 1999, Dr. Mary Willard felt like she was “just putting out fires.” The lack of available dentists, in combination with patients’ fears of dental procedures, meant that Mary and others were seeing patients too late to avoid pulling teeth. It was during this time that she learned about Dental Health Aide Therapists (DHATs). […]
Aging Well with Cherokee Indian Hospital’s Elder Care Specialty Clinic and Dementia ECHO Program
When you talk with Dr. Blythe Winchester, you can’t help but be drawn in by her stories. Her energy and passion for geriatric care is so engaging that she makes you feel that aging well isn’t just possible, it’s a human right. Blythe, a physician and member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, directs geriatrics at the Cherokee Indian Hospital in Cherokee, North Carolina. […]
ANTHC Takes the Lead
When it comes to caring for patients with infectious diseases, Leah Besh has a unique perspective. Leah, who is a Physician Assistant at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), works with ANTHC’s HIV and hepatitis clinics. Through this work, Leah has seen firsthand the negative impacts of co-morbid infectious diseases. […]
Red Lake IHS Hospital’s Prenatal Recovery Care Program
Providers who treat patients experiencing substance use disorders (SUDs) know the importance of that moment when a person moves from contemplating change to actively seeking recovery. To support pregnant patients at this important change point, staff at the Recovery Care Program at Red Lake IHS Hospital worked to expand service offerings and break down barriers to care. […]
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Omak Family Health Centers’ Opioid Treatment Network
In January 2019 the Family Health Centers, located in Omak, Washington, started the Opioid Treatment Network (OTN), a program designed to provide high quality outpatient treatment services for individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD). […]
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Gallup Indian Medical Center
In early March 2020, Dr. Jennie Wei, an Internal Medicine Physician at Gallup Indian Medical Center, attended her usual McKinley County Alcohol Task Force meeting. This gathering, however, was different. With the recent emergence of COVID-19 in the U.S., Task Force members knew that they needed to find ways to protect their most vulnerable and prevent emergency rooms from being overwhelmed. […]
Building a Liver Disease Program from the Ground Up
“They should just do it!” exclaimed Lisa Townshend-Bulson, when asked what she would say to others considering starting their own ECHO program. This “can do” attitude propelled Lisa, a nurse practitioner of 18 years, and her team at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) to start their own ECHO program. […]
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Cowlitz Clinical Diabetes Care Gets Creative During COVID-19
Alyssa Fine, RN, and Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist, along with other clinicians and staff at Cowlitz Tribal Health Clinic worked to build a holistic diabetes care model that supports patients through both clinical and community supports, including a Community Wellness Garden program and youth internship focused on traditional foods. […]
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Cowlitz Diabetes Program
Alyssa Fine was inspired to become a Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist when she saw how diabetes affects almost every aspect of a person’s life. As a seasoned registered nurse (RN), Alyssa recognized the complexities of diabetes and viewed this condition as one that requires attuned, holistic medical care. […]
Shoalwater Bay Wellness Center
In 2016, Laura Hamilton, a Certified Substance Use Disorder Professional, began working at Shoalwater Bay Wellness Center’s Chemical Dependency Program counseling patients with substance use disorders (SUDs). Initially, the Chemical Dependency Program Manger encountered some reluctance from community members. According to Laura, “In Native Country it can take a while for people to get used to a therapist when they come in brand new.” […]
Spirit Lake Medical Center
In 2019, Dr. Necito Montaniel, the Spirit Lake Health Center’s Medical Director, participated in a hepatitis C (HCV) elimination training offered by Indian Country ECHO. Inspired, he returned to Fort Totten, North Dakota, the heart of the Spirit Lake Nation, to gather data on how the community was doing with regard to HCV. […]
Crow Service Unit Pharmacists Building Community
“When I think about my time at Crow, I think about the hepatitis C treatment program. It was one of the most rewarding things I have done personally and professionally,” effused Dr. Angela Troutt, PharmD. Angela and her colleague, Dr. Kelsey Kroon, also a clinical pharmacist, have a palpable passion when describing the Crow/ Northern Cheyenne Hospital’s hepatitis C treatment program. […]
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Tulalip Finds Ways to Strengthen Diabetes Care and Prevention
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Tulalip in 2020, Veronica “Roni” Leahy, Dale Jones, and Brooke Guzman-Morrison found ways to get creative and serve community members with diabetes. Roni, the Tulalip Diabetes Program Manager of 15 years, manages the Special Diabetes Program for Indians grant, the diabetes registry, and teaches diabetes prevention classes. […]
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United Indian Health Services: A Leader in HCV Elimination
When Dr. Katie Cassel, a family practice physician at United Indian Health Services (UIHS), learned that new medications for hepatitis C were allowing treatment to be both more effective and easier for patients and providers, she became determined to start a hepatitis C elimination program at her clinic. […]
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Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center
A few years ago, community members living on the Confederate Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) started seeing more and more cases of heroin and fentanyl use. In response, staff at the Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center’s Chemical Dependency Program expanded their services to better meet their community’s needs. […]
Rosebud Hospital
When Dr. Hannah Wenger first began seeing patients at Rosebud Hospital in 2018, hepatitis C (HCV) prevention and treatment services were nonexistent at the hospital, which served the Rosebud Sioux community in South Dakota. Over the next year and a half, Dr. Wenger and her small team – which included a dedicated Public Health Nurse and an aspiring medical student – successfully cured over 20 patients. However, their journey was not without challenges. […]
Quinault Wellness Garden Program
The Quinault Indian Nation, located along the Washington coast, is effectively tackling diabetes, connecting people with traditional foods, and cultivating a healthier community through a garden-based wellness program that includes a free food pantry, cooking demonstrations, and multiple raised gardens. […]
Nationally Recognized Gender-Affirming Care in Oklahoma
In 2019, the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic was recognized as an LGBTQ Healthcare Equality Leader by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation- a designation provided to just one other health care facility in the state. In late July 2020 Indian Country ECHO spoke with Monica McKee, Director of Patient Services, Misty Gillespie, Director of Behavioral Health, and Lisa Toahty, Prevention Specialist, to learn about the clinic’s journey to becoming a national model for gender-affirming healthcare. […]
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Supporting Transgender Patients on the Navajo Nation
In 2013, the Gallup Indian Medical Center started a Transgender Clinic that was open just one day per week. Today the clinic serves more than 120 clients from across the Navajo Nation and surrounding urban areas. […]
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Lummi Nation
“Your life is sacred, and you are beloved,” Jessica Rienstra told us. “We want everyone who walks through the clinic doors to feel that way, regardless of their trajectory of sobriety.” […]
Siletz Harm Reduction Program
In 2018, the Siletz Community Health Clinic was awarded an HIV Early Intervention Services and Outreach grant from the Oregon Health Authority. With this funding, the Siletz Harm Reduction Program is able to offer syringe exchange, distribute naloxone nasal spray (used to reverse an opioid overdose), provide rapid HIV and hepatitis C testing, and connect clients to needed medical and social services. […]
Tulalip Diabetes Care and Prevention Program
In 2016, the Tulalip Diabetes Care and Prevention Program was awarded the Indian Health Service Portland Area Director’s Award for Excellence. Since then, the program has seen remarkable successes in treating patients and bringing the community together. In late March 2020, we had the pleasure of speaking with Veronica (“Roni”) Leahy- Diabetes Program Manager for Tulalip to learn more about their secrets to success. […]
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didgʷálič Wellness Center
The didgʷálic (deed-gwah-leech) Wellness Center – owned and operated by the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community – is a multi-specialty community health organization that provides counseling, medication, primary care, and social services to both Native and non-Native patients with substance use and behavioral health disorders. Through applying community knowledge and evidence-based medicine, didgʷálic has helped turned the tide of the epidemic at Swinomish. Watch this video to learn more about the didgʷálič Wellness Center’s unique treatment model. […]
Hepatitis C Pharmacy Intervention
Presentation at MetaECHO 2016 by Brad Moran, RPh, PharmD, discussing the success of a Pharmacy based hepatitis C treatment program supported by Project ECHO. […]
ECHO – Consulting patients, solving problems
What can one person do? When supported by the ECHO community, a lot. A clinician in a remote Arizona 638 facility was interested in treating the high numbers of chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Like most facilities in Indian Country, they were understaffed, which put her effectively on her own. […]
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Share Your Success Story
If your community has a program that’s made a difference in tackling a complex chronic disease, we’d love to share your story! […]
