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Sunday brought my favorite of our usual activities—the Indian Relays, which have not been experienced since 2019.  Unfortunately, I woke up feeling a tad droopy, not unlike one of the many sunflowers present here—a bit past their best bloom.  No time for droopiness though, best to try to keep blooming. 

So off we went to stop by the Singing Horse Trading Post on the way to the relays.  Even though the store wasn’t open and Rosie’s family is visiting from Germany, she gave us an enthusiastic welcome.  The students browsed the store, found many treasures to purchase while I was able to visit with A. and L., who is now a very chatty 4-years old.  We stayed longer than planned visiting but made it to the relays for the best of the races. 

We set up our canopy along the track fence a bit further from the action than I preferred but in the only available spot—the crowd for the relays was huge, just like the pow wow.  We settled in and got organized with a group of students sent out to recruit screening participants.  The tent got busy very quickly, which has been my experience with past relays.  I’ve said it before—this is just a different, more relaxed vibe. 

While I would like to screen as many people as possible, my bigger wish is for students to open themselves up and really make a connection with the people here and the Lakota culture.  This happened at the relays.  For the group of students out in the crowd trying to recruit screening participants, they met a 6^th Generation descendant of Red Cloud.  Mr. B’s wife was making beaded bracelets, and Mr. B had a hand-made walking stick for sale.  One of the students instantly connected with Mr. B and felt drawn to purchase the walking stick.  The walking stick is an absolute work of art—made of cottonwood with a dreamcatcher, porcupine quillwork, and sage attached. Mr. B told the student that this walking stick would lead him on future journeys.  Mr. B invited this student and the rest of the group to visit his tipi at the pow wow after the relays!  Toward the end of the races Mr. B and his wife and family came to visit the screening tent—they were an absolute delight to chat with. 

We finished watching the races with Suzie and Lance, ending our time at the track with the main event—the relay championship.  The students stood at the fence and watched the relays in awe of the horsemanship, athleticism, and bravery.  Always my favorite, and it never disappoints!

We drove over to the pow wow grounds to see Mr. B at his tipi, but unfortunately got there before he did.  The student who bought the walking stick plans to connect with him on social media to let him know that we had stopped by but missed him.  A few more pow wow snacks were purchased and then our long drive home with no storm, no shortcuts—instead we had nothing but tired, dusty, and non-droopy blooming students! 

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!

As we try to resume our usual activities at Pine Ridge after a hiatus for COVID in 2020 and then a limited trip in 2021, hope has been the sentiment for 2022—hope for less COVID; hope for continued support for the trip; hope for a full trip; hope for continued acceptance of health promotion efforts there; and hope for the best (whatever that is). Eight students are traveling this year, and with this number, I am know requiring a second person to travel with me to allow for transportation. A fellow faculty member very bravely and selflessly volunteered for this (she really has no idea what she is in for!).
Driving up is a must for us since I have so many supplies and donations; however, the majority of students flew. The adventure started with a rental car fiasco that was finally resolved after several hours and a trip to more than one Enterprise branch. We left to drive up at 5am on Wednesday and made it to the Cedar Pass Lodge in the Badlands by 9:30 pm Mountain Time. During the drive we received texts from several students about flight delays and changing flight schedules for the next day. Three students who were supposed to be on the same flight from Louisville ended up having to fly from Lexington; Indianapolis; and CHICAGO (!). Another student had delays affecting her arrival time with it being moved to 7:10 pm (originally scheduled to arrive at 11am). After a day in Rapid City, picking up travelers, visiting the monuments, shopping at Walmart, and getting dinner, we made it back to the cabins much later than planned but thankful everyone made it.
Our plans are fluid as usual but our first activity is always the pow wow. Having Suzie with IHS as been such a benefit to us. She was able to get permission for us to set up with the IHS Mobile clinic for the first time ever. After a busy morning of sorting and organizing donations, we were ready to head to the pow wow with a quick stop in Kyle to get my health promotion bin from Suzie. We stopped at the clinic in Kyle, and Suzie graciously gave the students a tour. Even though I catch up with Suzie fairly often, I still marvel at her stories of providing urgent/emergent care from the confines of an outpatient clinic that is not set up to do so.
We are much farther from Pine Ridge with our current lodging, so the drive one way is 2 hours. It goes by fairly quickly as there are frequent questions from students about the reservation, and on this trip, a stop to help a person who ran off the road in front of us. The two-lane road to Porcupine is as rural as any of the roads here, and I noticed the car coming toward us whose tire seemed to be wobbling. As I watch her go past, I see that she veers off the road and down the shoulder. My first thought was that she had for sure flipped the car. We did a quick U Turn and got out to check on her. Thankfully there was a fence down the shoulder that kept her from going in a ravine which definitely would have flipped the car. She was shaken up but uninjured. We offered her a ride and use of a cell phone, but she was afraid to leave her car. Family lived closed by so they were going to be there pretty quickly to help her. As we were saying goodbye, she stated that she did not have her seatbelt on—’next time’ was our quick bit of health promotion or this encounter. The rest of the trip was uneventful, and we made it to the pow wow.
We sat up by the IHS Mobile clinic with our canopy and many donations. The challenge for health promotion is always the weather, and this day provided probably the most extreme challenge ever—a temperature of 107 degrees. The cholesterol monitors are very sensitive, so I immediately put them in a Ziploc bag and put them in the cooler (they don’t like heat or direct light). Unfortunately, our ice melted quickly, and our Ziploc bag leaked so the cholesterol monitors are out of commission. Students went out to try to recruit visitors to the canopy and became drawn into the tipi races (contest to see which team of three women could build their tipi the fastest). We had a trickle of visitors, but it remained pretty slow. The first day of health promotion being slow is actually OK though, it gives the students a chance to get the lay of the land as far as the environment and process with screenings. The heat was nearly unbearable, but the students did not complain even one time. Lots of fluids, wet washcloths, fans, and sitting in the SUV in the AC periodically helped everyone make it through.
We made it to grand entrance time at the pow wow-always a much-anticipated event. I am always overwhelmed by this event even though I have attended many times, and this was no different. I teared up and sat feeling grateful to be back in this very special place.
Our trip home was an adventure—a gps guided “shortcut” allowed for a 20-mile drive on a very uneven gravel road in the dark during a storm in an unfamiliar area of the reservation. We made it safely—hope springs eternal!

It’s been such a different trip than usual—even though we are going to many of the same places and completing the same activities, it is just different.  Not in a bad way though! 

Tuesday found us driving back toward Rapid City but this time for some sightseeing and cultural activities.  We went to Custer and were able to drive the loop and catch the burros just before the end of the loop.  I love the burros!  We came prepared with the healthy burro snack of carrots (instead of a past year’s unhealthy burro snack of Cheez-Its).  There were new precious baby burros that added to the excitement.  The park was especially crowded—it seems that everybody is at Sturgis this year.  After Custer, it was on to the Crazy Horse Memorial.  The memorial has daily presentations that I thought were only pow wow dancers.  I was anxious to get the students to a presentation since it would be their only opportunity to see regalia and dancing in person.  After hurrying to Crazy Horse, we arrived to find that the presentation was a flute player instead.  No disappointment though (not allowed)—the flute player was outstanding, and we were able to hear ‘Amazing Grace’ played on this special instrument.  Crazy Horse was even more packed than Custer so we did not stay long.  After depriving the students of a real lunch with my hurrying to Crazy Horse, we had a nice, sit-down dinner at the Colonial House in Rapid City.  That certainly did the trick to end the day.

Wednesday was our last day on the rez.  We started out with a guided tour of Red Cloud Indian School.  I’ve been to Red Cloud so many times but never actually toured the whole school/grounds.  This visit helped to fill in some of the gaps related to history and culture of the Lakota—with no pow wow and not being able to visit the OLC Historical Center, I do feel that the students are missing some important information.  Again, we’re doing the best we can with what is available.  Anyway, the chapel was beautiful and peaceful as always, and I climbed the hill to spend some time at Red Cloud’s grave for the first time.  We ended the tour in the Heritage Center and met a recent grad from the OLC Nursing program that I tried to give a brief pep talk to about NCLEX.  You never know when you will need to bust out a pep talk!

After Red Cloud, it was on to the OLC Nursing Department for a visit with Michelle.  Since I last visited, the program has received accreditation for the first time in their history.  With only four faculty members (one of which serves as acting director of the program), I can only imagine the long hours and hard work put into this achievement.  We compared notes about how COVID-19 has impacted the program and their experiences, and it sounds like they have had to adjust to the Zoom way of doing things for lecture as well.  They will be in-person this Fall though.  The most exciting part of this visit was seeing the new simulation manikins in their sim center.  They have two new manikins—an elderly patient and an infant.  The manikins are made by Lifecast, a company that has done manikins for some Star Wars movies.  These manikins were SO life-like compared to the usual; we spent quite a bit of time oohing and aahing over them!  

Our last event of the day was a tour of the IHS Clinic in Kyle, led by our alum extraordinaire, Suzie.  The students got to see it all, meet other providers, get words of wisdom about nursing, and hear all about nursing in this very unique setting.  Suzie is so obviously a leader, with clear dedication to patients and outstanding nursing skills—very proud to see her thriving and making a difference. 

Driving home tomorrow—straight through this time.  Ready to go home but not ready?  How is it that time passes so quickly here? 

Even with my absolute worst fear for the trip occurring on Sunday–a student getting injured–we are back to business as usual. Honestly, I’m surprised that it hasn’t happened before now–10 years injury-free is a pretty good record.

Monday was one of the most anticipated activities of the trip (which is the same as previous years)-horseback riding. Rosie spent extra time making sure that each student was paired up with a horse that was a good fit as far as personality. Barkha started on Goldie; Bree rode Coon Tail; Rebecca rode Little Big Horse (a Mustang); Kelsey started with Thunder; and Victoria rode a horse with a Lakota name that I cannot remember at this point. I had the pleasure of serving as Rosie’s assistant during the pre-ride activities, which consisted of grooming; walking the horse on a lead; sitting on the horse bareback; and doing some ‘horse yoga’. Victoria ended up changing horses to Black Diamond, and Barkha and Kelsey ended up trading their horses so that everyone ended up with the best fit. After a ride out into the plains, the students returned exhilarated and tired and wishing that they could ride a second time on a different day.

Even though I don’t ride myself, I always enjoy this activity as well. Even though there is nothing at all related to health promotion, there are many lessons to be learned. I like to see the students’ excitement and their approach to riding–some are experienced and confident; some are slightly hesitant; while others are outwardly scared and anxious. Sometimes the anxiety is too much to overcome, but this doesn’t occur often. I like to do what I can to encourage those who are the least experienced with the most anxiety to work past this so that they can have the experience of a lifetime. I find myself getting into my teacher-mode, offering positive reinforcement, encouragement, suggestions, and advice. On their end, the more anxious students are encouraged to approach this activity like they would having to perform a new skill on an actual patient for the first time during their nursing care–projecting confidence and calm and believing in their own ability. Without this, the horse–just like the patient–would sense anxiety, stress, and fear and react with the same. With a mixture of experience levels, all of the students built rapport with their horses, stayed calm, and had the best possible outcome–a good ride.

While this day in the sun was exhausting, it feels strange not to drive anywhere so of course, we hit the road. We went by the OLC Historical Center and Bookstore, but unfortunately, both remain closed due to COVID. We instead drove out to Sheep Mountain for a quick look and then hit the Common Cents in Sharps Corner.

Going into the convenience store seemed to provoke more anxiety than horseback riding. The students voiced their discomfort at being a minority–the only white people in the store. This provided an opportunity for discussion on the way back to Rosie’s. This discomfort is something that I hope that they remember for a long time to come, especially when they begin their professional nursing careers. I hope that when they remember this that they are able to more fully empathize with their culturally diverse patients who might be experiencing a similar discomfort. With this empathy, I also hope that they can promote safe care to bridge what often seems like a cultural gap between nurse and patient.

Saturday was our day for screenings.  Rosie very kindly offered to host us at the trading post and put out an announcement on the store’s Facebook page that we would be offering screenings while taking all of the required COVID-19 precautions.  We set up next to the store and planned to give out school supplies with screenings.  While certainly not the same volume of screenings as at the pow wow or the Indian relays, we did have a steady trickle with some breaks in between.  We were able to share results with a few previous screening participants that showed improvement in cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure.  We also met some great people, and the students did a great job as usual.  It is great to be back doing this, even if it is on a much smaller scale.  We will take what we can get and be happy about it!

After a siesta, we decided to try to catch the sunset at Red Shirt Table.  The sunset is a vivid orange from the wildfire smoke so it is particularly beautiful this year.  We made it in plenty of time, and the students spent some time at the edge of the overlook taking in the most sweeping view of the Badlands and of course, taking A LOT of photos.  I decided to walk down after talking to Jim on the phone, and stood at the edge breathing it all in, looking, and listening.  To my surprise, I was able to hear the distant drum beat from a family’s sundance ceremony.  Wow!  This is always a favorite spot on the reservation—for the students as well. 

Sunday dawned bright and early for one student and myself.  I woke up at 5:30am to a persistent knock on my cabin door.  After fumbling with the door in my sleep clouded state, I found that a student had cut her foot.  She had gotten up to go to the bathroom and snagged her sock on a carpet nail, slicing her foot open and peeling back the skin for a nasty looking, three-inch long wound.  After talking to her about the first aid kit and getting fully awake, I made the decision to take her to Rapid City to urgent care.  I didn’t think that they would be able to stitch it because of how the skin was torn, but did feel that it needed to be assessed and evaluated beyond our basic first aid kit.  We left at approximately 6:30am and made it to Rapid just as the urgent care had opened (and after hitting a bird on the way—this will come up again later!).  She was seen very quickly and in was in and out of the urgent care within 30-40 minutes.  She was initially told that she wouldn’t need stitches, but after further assessment, she ended up with 4 stitches and a tetanus shot.  Not a great start to her Sunday, but she handled it like a champ and has been a trooper throughout.  We picked up a few more supplies, some caffeine for me, and headed back to the rez.  At the checkpoint to come back on to the rez, one of the border guards kept pointing to the front of the Suburban.  I couldn’t figure out what this was about until the other guard came to the window and said, “You know you have a bird in your grill, right?” and then proceeded to pluck it out barehanded and throw it in the weeds.  No, I didn’t know, and we drove around Rapid with said dead bird in the grill.  After profuse thanks to the border guards for taking care of this issue for us, we made it back to the trading post without any further excitement.

Our plan for this day was our beading lesson from Jessica. The other students had just started when we returned. This group really enjoyed and got into the beading more so than any other group that I have brought. Jessica is a great teacher—patient and kind in her approach. The students ended up beading for most of the day with several finishing 2 or 3 bracelets. One student even purchased supplies so that she could continue to bead after the trip. This day of quiet focus was exactly what was needed after the hectic morning. Our evening activity included a visit to the Wounded Knee Massacre site. We spent some time in the cemetery in quiet reflection as a visit is supposed to be. The wind is always blowing here and with that comes a sense of troubled, restless energy—this is a spot where terrible things happened that should never be forgotten.

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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. 

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.

Our week is wrapping up, and with that it means a bit of a slowdown with screenings but still trying to fit in a few more visits and stops around the rez. Tuesday found us at the Singing Horse for most of the day. No matter how many students I bring or their riding experience or lack thereof, Rosie always accommodates us for horseback riding. This is always one of the events that students are most excited for so it is nice to finish up the week with this fun activity.

While half of the students rode, the other half got a beading lesson from A. A. is a patient teacher who never gets frustrated no matter how many times she has to untangle something or help someone to correct a mistake. This is always a great time for us to chat and catch up also—I always enjoy this part of our visit. All of the students finished their bracelets, and many were able to include some fairly complex designs. Very impressive! Along with horses and beadwork, we were able to complete several screenings at the trading post to make this day even more of a success.

After returning to the cabins, we cooked hotdogs, bratwursts, and smores around the fire. The students have enjoyed campfire time most nights during the trip for even further bonding beyond our numerous and long car rides.

There is a term used on the rez for the letdown and fatigue after the pow wow known as a “pow wow hangover”. In past trips, I have honestly felt this, but not this time. There is still so much to see and do that my fatigue thus far has not overtaken my energy level. Monday began with a trip to the historical center at the main Oglala Lakota College campus in Kyle. I am pretty sure that the students were quite excited to find out that we only had to drive across the street and up a hill to get there instead of the usual 30-60+ minute drive. After a somber and reflective time listening to the history of the Lakota, many students verbalized there frustration with this historical mistreatment as well as an understanding of why there is such a mistrust of the governmental-run health care system on the rez. We enjoyed the college grounds and the views from the pow wow arbor where graduation is held before heading to the college bookstore for OLC t-shirts and other souvenirs. The primary purpose of being on the campus was to do screenings at OLC Head Start Administration for the staff who had an all-day orientation session. We had a room of approximately 40 employees, and I knew from past experience that we would be quite busy. We set up as three teams for screenings and after some initial equipment and technology glitches that were quickly resolved (or as quickly as I could get them fixed), the students were screening smoothly with their best teamwork to date. We saw many repeat screening participants and had many quite positive interactions. We did have one employee with a blood sugar of over 400 who had not previously been diagnosed with diabetes but had a family history. The students provided education, and I gave her very specific instructions about following up ASAP with her provider. I will plan to follow up with her next week to make sure that she was able to get an appointment. After an intense and busy few hours, we moved on for another brief siesta before heading to the main part of Badlands National Park.

The park was super busy, but still an outstanding visit. We did a hike through the rocks to the edge of the cliffs, and at one point I told Suzie that if we got lost she had to wait for me, even if it got dark. We successfully made it back to the van with the rest of the group though—thank goodness. We never saw any buffalo, but after turning down an unpaved road, came across a herd of bighorn sheep with lots and lots of tiny babies. I have never seen these before during any of my trips so it was quite thrilling. We got out and took photos as close as the sheep would allow us to get. I’m pretty sure that is the students could have caught a baby that it would have ended up in the van. A bit further down the road, we stopped at one of the many prairie dog colonies. These prairie dogs are apparently used to people and allowed us to get quite close to them for photos. After turning around to try to find an overlook to watch the sunset, we saw more prairie dogs and upon the advice of one the students decided to try to feed them popcorn. This began initially as popcorn and pretzels being thrown from the van to the prairie dogs and progressed to the students getting closer than I would have liked to offer their popcorn. We had previously discussed that prairie dogs carry the plague, but this was not a deterrent. Apparently, I have lost control of this trip (not really)… Many had what was described as a ‘bucket list’ prairie dog encounter and lots of photos were taken in the process. We had vigorous hand-sanitizing before moving on for the sunset. Ten pm tacos were the end of this busy, busy day.