Always an Adventure

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!