Where to begin for this trip? Well, we’re already 4 days in and I haven’t blogged at all so that should give an indication. I’ll try to catch things up…
I have not made a trip to Pine Ridge with students since August of 2019. The pandemic changed so many things for so many people, and this holds true for Pine Ridge also. The reservation was ‘locked down’ for an extended period of time and border checkpoints were added to keep non-essential visitors away to decrease the risk of COVID-19 spread. This action helped the tribe to mitigate the effects of the pandemic considerably; however, the Lakota have still experienced their share illness and death from COVID. As the summer began, the tribe began to allow volunteer groups back to the reservation with certain stipulations—all members of the group must be fully vaccinated; a safety plan must be developed and provided to the OST Public Health Authority; and the group must receive permission from the tribal president. As soon as this word was received in May, I began to plan the trip. Just as all of the students in the group to travel completed their vaccinations, the Delta variant showed up on the reservation. Also, the tribe–concerned about the low vaccination rate (around 23%) and risk to the children who are unable to be vaccinated—postponed the pow wow. Even with these events, we received permission from the tribal president to make our visit. I do know how lucky we are to make this trip!
I have tried to keep expectations low and my anxiety at bay—quite difficult to do this at times! On Wednesday, August 4, we began our drive to Pine Ridge with 4 of the 5 members of the student group. We arrived in Porcupine on Thursday, 8/5. With the Lakota Prairie Motel closed for use as COVID quarantine, we were lucky to be able to stay at Singing Horse Trading Post in the trailer and a cabin. So excited to see our friends there! After unloading and settling in just a bit, we drove on to Rapid City to pick up our last student from the airport and then move on to the requisite and unfortunate Mount Rushmore visit. I stayed in the SUV as usual while the students voiced their thoughts—“I thought that it was bigger” or “I thought that it would be closer”. With that out of the way, it was on to Walmart for our food and supply shopping. As a fun activity, alums Suzie and Alexander met us and helped me shop (because at this point in my fatigue, I need my own support team). Thank goodness! One thing that I already appreciate about this group is that they are easy to please nutrition-wise. Don’t judge, but we got McDonalds from the drive thru and ate on the way back to Singing Horse.
With a planned later start to allow for catching up on sleep, Friday began with a trip to Badlands National Park. I have said it before and I will say it again, I never tire of this place, but I especially enjoy seeing the students’ reactions to it for the first time. We drove the loop and were blessed with being able to see ALL of the animals except for mountain goats. Lots of excitement over prairie dogs and baby bighorn sheep and LOTS of stopping for pictures! A storm rolled in just as we were getting our Indian Taco dinner at Cedar Pass Lodge, but it had moved on by the time we were ready to make the drive back.
Nursing Students at Pine Ridge 