I finally made contact with the folks at North Dakota University who study the health and the effects of diabetes on the Native Americans living in North Dakota.
I’ve wanted to do a story about the health issues that face the people living there. Diabetes has become an epidemic and leads to more problems including heart complications.
Native Americans are provided some amount of health care through Indian Health Services, or IHS. The program as is has been described to me is a joke.
Many native peoples have been raised on government commodities, which has attributed to the diabetes. The IHS has been unsuccessful in educating the people it serves to the risks that cause diabetes. IHS is also more of a bandade plan than true health coverage for the people.
If everything goes according to plan I’ll probably start shooting there for about a month starting in July.
2 comments:
In time to come back and go canoeing with your girlfriend before she goes back to college.
Your posting about Native American health in ND got flagged by my Google Alerts and I was wondering if we could chat about this further? I'm wondering if you are working with my colleagues in the Center for Rural Health (I do Center communications). I'd be interested in partnering with you for a story in North Dakota Medicine magazine, and perhaps some other publications. You obviously are a talented photog :) Wendy Opsahl - wopsahl@medicine.nodak.edu.
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