Today is our last day on the rez. Everyone is tired, perhaps starting to get on each other’s nerves a bit, but still hanging in there. I am still feeling good-we have had an awesome trip, and I have no complaints about anything. We started with a breakfast in the motel restaurant with Mrs. UB. This was not a required participation event, but I was happily surprised that the majority of the group came to meet her and visit. We enjoyed a lively discussion on different topics, and the students walked away with some new insights provided by Mrs. UB. In our discussion, one of the many things that stood out to me was her take on how our society is lacking the commitment of service to others and that there is a strong need to re-emphasize this, especially among youth. In a culture that values generosity and has the expectation of sharing if you are able to, service to others is a necessity. This is one of the many things that draws me to the Lakota and Pine Ridge. With these concepts so simple, why are they so hard to put into practice in our day to day life at home back in IN? I don’t have the answers, but I do have the ongoing goal to find the joy in service—whatever that may look like. The students received some great reminders from Mrs. UB as well about being present and actively listening with their patients. She will be moving to the extended classroom in the fall—Mr. G resigned, which is a huge loss, but Mrs. UB will be an outstanding replacement. I am looking forward to working with her again in the Spring for health teaching!
After dropping some donations off at the school for her classroom and getting photos with her, we turned our attention to a ranger class at the White River Visitors Center in the Badlands. We were extremely pressed for time, with Suzie’s tour of the Kyle IHS Clinic finally being scheduled to overlap with our ranger talk. We had the pleasure of meeting Ranger Matt, who offered a “menu” of ranger talks for the students. We decided on the Medicine Wheel talk, and this was perfect. He was a dynamic speaker and explained the Medicine Wheel in a way that kept my attention completely. Unfortunately, even though we did not want to leave the talk, I had to get Suzie to her tour. We made it to the clinic and decided to tour as a team (a la ‘Stepbrothers’-style). Someone asked me if I was her mother! The tour was fantastic and in-depth, and she was able to meet many of her future co-workers. She will be on a team with a DNP-prepared NP, focusing on int. med, infectious diseases, women’s health, and some behavioral health. This is going to be fantastic, and she will be living my infectious disease dream! After the tour, we raced back to the Visitor’s Center to pick up the students, only to find out that the talk ended 5 minutes after we left to take Suzie to the tour. The students played UNO on the porch of the Visitor’s Center while they were waiting, and even though they likely wanted to complain about this extended and unplanned wait, no one did. After thanking Ranger Matt, we were off to Pine Ridge one more time.
We made our appointment at the OLC Nursing Program and enjoyed our tour and talk with MB and another faculty member. They are down to 3 faculty members which I cannot even imagine. Her very optimistic attitude about this reminded me of when I did home health supervision and the day would end without enough nurses on the schedule for all of the patient visits—it will work out and always does. We had a fun trip to Red Cloud Indian School—normally, this is not necessarily a fun stop, but rather one of solace and peace in the beautiful chapel. We still found this; however, there is a selfie backdrop in the Heritage Center that provided us with a chance for photo posing that caused me to laugh hysterically. For all of the moments of work, seriousness, service, and respect for the culture, a trip to Pine Ridge also involves many laughs with the students, and I enjoy these moments nearly as much as everything else. A Higher Ground coffee shop stop, a trip to Big Bats for gas, and then on to Wounded Knee for our last stop. We made the best of our time here—today and the whole week.
Nursing Students at Pine Ridge 