With the mindset of having a pre-COVID-type trip (still considering infection prevention though), I have resumed planning for the activities that have worked well in the past—a weekend full of busy pow wow activities to get us started.
Saturday began with a later start, which the students more than deserve after the heat of yesterday and sketchy drive home in the thunderstorm. When we got to the pow wow, it was absolutely hopping! I have never seen such a large crowd at the pow wow. We had to park pretty far out in the parking lot but found a great spot for set up. The weather had also 100% turned the corner from the day before with a perfect day for being outside at about 80 degrees. Our 8 students switched roles with 4 students staying to complete screenings and the other 4 walking around to recruit screening participants. We again could not get the cholesterol monitors to work so blood pressures and blood sugars and BMI’s were the offering instead. It is always a transformational process with how the week goes, beginning with some fear of the unknown and lots of anxiety about how they will be perceived by the people. In my mind, this is very good for them because it gives a taste of how it feels on the other side—when our patients are diverse and may feel uncomfortable with a provider who is different. The students quickly overcome this though and are able to open themselves up to the experience, including facing rejection from those who are not interested in being screened. Several of the students described feeling like “solicitors” initially as they approached people, but this gave way to conversations with families and individuals about nursing and health care and how much their efforts are appreciated. Really great job of screening non-stop for a solid two hours today with some good catches, including a 443 blood sugar.
The tent was busy today with many visitors and some great discussions about health. We gave away many bubbles, rubber duckies, and fruit snacks to the kids who waited while their parents were screened. My favorite was a boy of about 7 or 8 who was in his partial traditional (bustle) dancer regalia. We talked for a minute about his hopes for winning second place in his dance category, and he showed me some of his dance moves (his category is my favorite of all of the dances). He was quite impressive, and I told him that he should win first. His mom said he wouldn’t win first because the day before he really didn’t want to dance and his performance showed that. I would not have been able to physically dance in the heat of Friday so any performance seems like a good one to me! I remembered how hot we were the day before sitting under the canopy in the shade in our shorts and tshirts, but all of the dancers in their full regalia actually danced in that heat without complaint. Puts things in perspective as usual.
Since our pow wow time last night was interrupted by the storm, we stayed for another grand entrance, and this time got to sit with Suzie and her boyfriend, Lance. Because the pow wow was so crowded, we ended up sitting much further back; however, Lance took the students up to sit on the ground right at the edge of the arena so that they could be up close. Chatting with Suzie, eating pow wow food, watching the beauty of the grand entrance again, and seeing the students’ reactions made this a great night. Our travels home were without event this time (no short cuts!), and even though it was late, it feels good to have had a full day that went according to plan!
Nursing Students at Pine Ridge 