Tanya Firemoon | Miranda Davis | Dolores Jimerson | Katie Hunsberger | Carrie Sampon-Samuels | Stephannie Christian | Morning Rose Louie

Tanya Firemoon joined the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board in 2008 and has worked with the Native Dental Therapy Initiative and Community Health Aide Program since 2016. Tanya is currently serving as the Tribal Community Health Provider Project contractor. She previously worked with the National Indian Child Welfare Association in community development. Tanya has been involved in the American Indian and Alaska Native non-profit health arena focused on child welfare, children’s mental health, research, and public health for 20 years and supports capacity building and workforce development with a specific scope of practice for local communities. Her strengths are in advocacy work, streamlining culturally appropriate community-based events, and relationship building.

Miranda Davis, DDS, MPH, has worked at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB) since 2019 where she serves as the Site Visit Prevention Consultant for the Northwest Tribal Dental Support Center. She also directs the Native Dental Therapy Initiative at NPAIHB, which assists Tribes in implementing innovative workforce models to address social determinants of health and expand access to high quality oral health care. Miranda has over twenty years of experience in the dental field.  She earned a DDS from the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry in San Francisco, and a MPH from the University of Washington School of Public Health.

Dolores Jimerson, MSW, LCSW, ADS is originally from the east coast, where she grew up as an urban Indian. She was reared traditionally Seneca (bear clan) in Little Italy, which also resonated with her Italian/Irish mother. She now lives on the Olympic Peninsula, where it seems “it’s always Twilight.” Dolores is excited to lead NPAIHB in the development of culturally resonant behavioral health programming to support tribes in meeting their needs. Her lived experience pairs nicely with her three plus decade career of working in behavioral health in Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Oregon, and Washington. Some of her past tribal employment was with the Eastern Shoshone, Northern Arapaho,  CTUIR, and Quileute. Her previous national level work included serving as Director of Community Development for NICWA. She is a caregiver and community organizer at heart, who is passionate about creating services that resonate with re-membering us into our greatness. She is clinically licensed in both Wyoming and Oregon, along with being a certified Acudetox Specialist (ear acupuncture) and Registered Trainer. You can find her gardening, beach combing, traveling, writing, or serving as comedic muse when she is not working.

Katie Hunsberger (Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation), started working at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board in the Fall of 2020. As the BHA Student Support Coordinator, she connects with current and future Behavioral Health Aides and walks alongside them in their educational journey. As a student herself, Katie loves creating relationships with those she supports by working with them to encourage self-care, providing emotional support, and being a good relative. Katie works to recruit, build material, and assist the Tribal Community Health Provider Project in various ways. Her largest project is supporting the BHA Education Program.

Carrie Sampson-Samuels is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and has a BS in Health Studies and Community Health Education with a certificate in Healthcare Management. Carrie has worked in Public Health for the past 11 years, serving NW Tribes through various projects at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board and as the Community Wellness Director at Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center. Carrie has also worked for the Blackfeet Nation and had the opportunity to serve Treaty 7 Tribes at the Alberta First Nations Information Governance Center in Calgary, AB, Canada.