Monthly Archives: August 2014

Now that I have been home for a few days, the realization that the trip is over has finally sunk in.  Coming home is great–missed my family, missed my bed, missed my pets, etc., but it always takes some time to wind down from the trip.  There is a lot to think about, and I find myself reflecting on the trip frequently.  I will periodically smile at the thought of one of our experiences on the reservation or the memory of a student stepping out of their comfort zone or some funny van conversation.  The people of Pine Ridge are in the forefront of these reflections as well.

The students this year have a final assignment that is due today.  They have to choose 10 photographs that represent their experiences and what they learned and provide a brief description.  Since they have to do it, I will as well.  Here are the 10 pictures that best summarize the trip for me (many of these photos were taken by the students)-I won’t provide a description because I think they speak for themselves.

Every year since 2012, I have driven a 15-passenger van on the trip to Pine Ridge.  The van is always an interesting dynamic-we spend so much time in the van that the dynamic can either be good or bad or somewhere in between.  We drive about 8 hours or so crammed in like sardines to Sioux Falls, then another 6 to the reservation, and then probably a good 3 or 4 hours a day driving from place to place once we get to the reservation.  My preference for the van is always a group that gets along, bonds, and talks and laughs.  The van provides a cultural experience in and of itself since many of the students barely know each other, if at all, prior to the trip.  We try to switch out van riders between our two vans so that the group can mix it up, and everyone has a chance to interact.  I ended up with the same group for most of the trip.  This trip always gives me a chance to get to know students on a more personal level than just standing in front of a class.  My van riders were Tim, Cole, Kendra, Ericka, Stephanie, Maria, Kimmi, Megan, Jessie, and Lacey.  What a fun group!  I never turned the radio on during the trip–there was constant laughter, discussion, and joking, and this was music to my ears.  In no way shape or form do I want to imply that the other trip participants who were not in my van were not outstanding students or equally as fun, but it just so happened that I spent more time with this group due to the van.  The positive dynamic made my time in the van much easier for me–keeping me awake and on my toes for the duration!

The dreaded last day…the day that I usually spend in an absolute funk.  This year was different though–maybe because of the relief of finishing my capstone presentation; finally deciding to accept that no matter what else could be done, I have to be happy with what was accomplished; or just the pleasure of seeing my students’ responses to their experiences.  Anyway, this last day was a good day for once.  

We started our day at the Oglala Lakota College School of Nursing, meeting with Michelle Bruns, the program director.  We have been visiting the school of nursing since 2011, and I have had the pleasure this year to get to know one of their students a bit.  She is a member of one of the families that I met during my very first visit to the reservation in 2011.  She will be starting her second year at the college this fall and will graduate in May.  I am very happy to offer her encouragement and support whenever possible–her becoming an RN will make a huge difference to her entire family.  The school of nursing always offers our students a nice reality check–even though they may have complaints about their school, it would be much more challenging to be a nursing student at Pine Ridge.  

After this visit, we went to the Red Cloud Indian School.  We don’t always get to visit this site, but when we do, I always go in the church.  As described in a previous blog, this is one of the most beautiful churches that I have ever seen.  I took a few minutes to sit and close my eyes and reflect on the trip and our experiences.  There are some places on the reservation that are always a trigger for my tears, and this church is usually not one.  However, I found myself with tears today during my quiet time–even with the conditions on the reservation and the past history of the Wounded Knee Massacre and other episodes of violence, I find Pine Ridge to be a peaceful place.  Today I found my peace in the church; I am so grateful for all of the experiences of this trip.  I always consider it a privilege, and this trip has been no different.  The trip has been hectic, the few minutes of peace and quiet in reflection were much appreciated.

Our friends, the Elk Family, made time for us during their very busy sundance and pow wow week to talk to the group about Wounded Knee.  Emerson spent much time with the students and provided his unique and moving account on the history of Wounded Knee and the massacre.  Many students found this experience to be emotional, and the trip to the burial site is especially stirring.  After spending time with Emerson, Jerilyn, Kathy, and Emmaline and buying some beautiful beadwork (I got a turtle dreamcatcher from Kathy that is quite unique, as well as some Elk hide earrings from Jerilyn), we were off to the motel for our last evening at the Lakota Prairie.  

How can you replicate the success of yesterday?  Not sure that it is possible, but we gave it a go.  Our day started with horseback riding at 8:30am for part of the group.  We divided the group into 3 smaller ones and rode at Rosie’s (Singing Horse Trading Post) and Tyler and Denise’s house, a Native American family that Rosie knows.  We had quite a few first time riders, but everyone bravely took on this activity.  We took some supplies to Tyler and Denise, including backpacks and school supplies for their kids.  The kids were so happy to get new backpacks that they hugged them!  We have ridden their horses for a few years in a row now, and we get nothing but kindness and patience, even on the trips when students were so nervous that they cried.  Tyler’s horse, Bullseye, just won the Indian Relays–I rode him a couple of years ago, and he was just beautiful and calm and patient.  The first two photos are one of the groups riding at Tyler’s.  The bottom photo is of a group of horses in the road (a little used dirt road close to Tyler’s house).  

Between shuttling riders to Tyler’s house, the other groups received a beading lesson from Verola Spider, Verola’s daughter, Angel, and another friend Alyssa.  Rosie’s is such a calm and relaxing environment–couple that with a beading lesson, and you have a very zen afternoon.  I have a student on the trip who is originally from Uruguay, and she is quite the entertaining talker.  During beading, she was quiet for the first time of the trip.  Many of the students were able to finish their bracelets and now have a much better understanding of the amount of time and attention to detail that goes into Lakota artwork.  We had amazing teachers and our conversations with them were certainly the high point.  Verola is an amazing person with a calm spirit.  She has a very large family (10 children) and many, many grandchildren.  In the fall she will begin working as a teacher at the Head Start in Manderson.  Her daughter Angel plans to return to college to earn her Masters degree in counseling at Lewis and Clark University in Portland, Oregon.  Angel shared with us part of her pow wow regalia which included some of the most beautiful beading that I have ever seen.  Our third teacher was a girl who will be entering 12th grade in the fall.  She is the same age as my son, but her life is so much different.  She lives with her grandmother and has experienced the difficulties of having a family member with a substance abuse problem.  She is a bright and beautiful girl who plans to attend college for social work.  She was a pleasure to talk to, and one of our students really made a connection with her.  She gave us her contact information, and many of the group plan to stay in touch to offer her encouragement.  As we were preparing to leave, Rosie asked if we could provide any assistance to Alyssa’s family as they were about to have their electricity turned off.  We gave Alyssa all of what was left of our donated money–not quite enough for the bill, but hopefully will help.  She was very giving to us–sharing information on traditions, her daily life on Pine Ridge, her hopes and dreams–how could we not  try to give a little in return?  We always take more, unfortunately.

After a busy day, we wanted to fit in just a bit more health promotion.  We stopped in Wounded Knee at a small apartment complex.  This is a first, but students actually knocked on doors and invited people to come visit us in the parking lot.  We had many children and some adults come out to visit.  Kids received new shoes, physical activity equipment, and art supplies.  After throwing the football and hula hooping and talking to residents of the complex, we had given the rest of our donations out.  The kids are always such a joy.  One of the students mentioned that she noticed that while the children here seem happy and have smiles and hope, the adults appear to be worn down, do not smile often, and appear stoic.  She wondered at what point the Lakota lose this happiness and hope.  After talking to Alyssa, our beading teacher, and hearing about her struggles, unfortunately, joy is often lost before the kids reach adulthood.  Family and tradition and a sense of community are what keep many going, it seems.  The students have had many excellent insights, and it has been a pleasure to work with them.

Our Saturday started with donations, donations, donations-sorting, bagging, and organizing all of our health promotion materials and giveaways.  After setting aside things for families that we know, we loaded up the vans and took a detour to the Badlands.  Unfortunately the Visitors Center was closed so one accidental trip to the Red Shirt Table Overlook later, we were on our way to Pine Ridge.  Even though the trip is long (>40 miles on a gravel road), the trip is worth it for the view alone.  We also came upon a herd of cows in the road (not one cow, but many cows!).  I thought that I was finally going to have my lifelong dream met–a photo with a cow at Pine Ridge.  Not so….the students found this just as exciting as me, and they all hopped out of the vans and started toward the cows.  These cows did not feel the love for this large group of humans and ran back into their fenced pasture.  Well, no picture again, but we can say that we herded cows on the trip.  🙂

The pow wow was really crowded when we arrived which was just perfect for our planned activities.  We parked in the lot and set up our health promotion and donations very quickly.  We are a large group, but everyone has a purpose and is really motivated.  After some initial instructions, the students were off to the races.  They went out in small groups to invite people to come and see us for health information and supplies.  I thought at first since we had to park so far out in the parking lot that we would not have much business, but this was definitely not the case.  We were so busy!!!!  We had our usual focus on cardiovascular health and diabetes, as well as information and activities related to oral care, diabetic foot care, physical activity, and depression screenings and resources.  One of our cardiovascular and diabetic screening participants remembered us and was very appreciative of the service, stating that she had not been checked since last year at the pow wow when we did it.  Even though our services are very limited, they at least provide an opportunity for tribal members to get a glimpse of their health status.  With some teaching with these services, we can at least plant seeds that will encourage healthy lives.

Our health promotion on this trip also included something that we had never done before–sexual health.  One of our students has a very strong interest in teenage pregnancy prevention and learned that the teenage pregnancy rate on the reservation is very high.  She had asked about the possibility of having condoms available for anyone who wanted to take them at the pow wow.  I told her prior to the trip that I was not sure how well that this would be accepted, but it was worth a try.  The students in this case were braver than I, and actually took the 500 condoms and walked around talking to mostly teenagers and young adults.  They handed out approximately 300 condoms!  The students’ motivation and initiative never cease to amaze me.  They were able to include this much needed service in a non-threatening way–Kudos to them!

Lots of firsts on this trip,and I could not be more proud!

The lead up to Friday was nearly excruciating for me.  In addition to traveling with students as part of their coursework, I am also on Pine Ridge to complete my very last requirement to receive my DNP from Loyola.  This requirement is a presentation of my capstone project, “NAP SACC: Implementation of an Obesity Prevention Intervention in an American Indian Head Start”.  This presentation was to my contact at Head Start, Jennifer Her Many Horses; my capstone director from Loyola, Dr Andresen; and to the Dean of the DNP Program and another faculty member at Loyola who were to be on a conference call.  I have been so nervous, realizing that as much as I plan this presentation, some of the logistics would be out of my control.  I was so happy that my fellow instructor, Lisa Preston, and many of the students requested to attend the presentation.  While this made the group larger, having students in the audience was actually very helpful to me.  It felt more like teaching and less like a make or break presentation.  Even though we could not get a cell phone signal at the Head Start building for the conference call making the Dean and other Loyola faculty member unable to participate (I will be providing them with a recorded version of the presentation later), the presentation really could not have gone better.  I was actually less nervous than expected and finished the presentation without difficulties.  Because the metal roof on the Head Start building blocks cell phone reception, my capstone is now being referred to as the “Tin Roof Capstone”.  I am so relieved to be finished!  After a visit to the Historical Center at the college and the bookstore, we returned to the motel for lunch.  I walked into the 2-bedroom cabin that is the hub of our activities, and all of the students and Lisa had streamers up and confetti and blew horns to celebrate my completion of my DNP.  Students made brownies and ice cream, and we had an impromptu graduation party.  Can’t really express how much this meant to me!

We went to the pow wow later in the evening for the Grand Entrance.  I love to see the students reactions and awe during this experience.  The pow wow is such a profound experience–to witness Lakota families from babies to elderly participating in the pow wow is beyond description.  While we always tend to see the negatives of a people or place, the pow wow provides us the opportunity to look past the perceived negatives and truly see the beauty of the people and how much their traditions, culture, family, and community mean to them.  I usually spend most of the visit with goose bumps, and this experience was no different.  Here are some photos that will do a better job than I can with words!  (The first one is at Rosie’s).

I left off the last entry with guesses on how much in donations that the students raised–the final amount was an astounding $3240.92.  Yes, you are reading that correctly–that is thousands of dollars.  I cannot begin to express my feelings on this!

Now to the traveling…..we made it to Pine Ridge without any difficulties (car sickness resolved).  I have had a very festive van with lots of conversation, which I love and helps the time pass by more quickly.  Upon arrival to the reservation, we stopped in Kyle to talk to the manager of the Kyle Youth Center.  I had hoped to possibly have students visit for health promotion activities during our stay, but have never done so at this site.  While it will not happen during this trip, I have met the manager and have a better idea of their needs and hope to develop an ongoing relationship with her for future trips.  She had some donation needs, and this is something that we will definitely help with during the trip.

After checking into my favorite motel and having a group lunch, we traveled to Walmart for food for the trip and to buy health promotion items with our donated money.  This was an amazing trip–we divided the students into five groups and gave each group $500 to buy items.  We literally cleaned Walmart out of many of their school supplies.  We are also well-stocked with diapers, car seats, strollers, physical activity items for kids, and more.  We then sent the students back to shop for food (we pay for it but they shop!).  We could barely fit everything into the vans–student had to hold bags on their laps.  After the requisite “Best Pizza Hut in the World” in Chadron, we traveled back to the reservation as exhausted as can be.  

I have enjoyed seeing the students reactions to the reservation and excitement upon arriving.  Their enthusiasm is invigorating to me–no matter how tired I am, I will keep driving and guiding the students through this experience with a renewed energy.  Being positive is catchy!