IHS Blog

IHS announces new mobile messaging tool to help people who want to quit commercial tobacco use

October 7, 2020
by Alberta Becenti, MPH, Public Health Advisor for the Health Promotion/Disease Prevention Program, Indian Health Service

Indigenous Peoples’ Day, celebrated on October 12, 2020, honors Native American histories and cultures. While sacred tobacco is important in many Native cultures for prayer, healing, and ceremony, commercial tobacco is harmful to our health. We encourage you to keep tobacco sacred and quit commercial ... Continue reading

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Red Lake contact tracing team ramps up COVID-19 community response efforts

October 2, 2020
by Jill Andersen, MPT, NBC-HWC, physical therapist for Red Lake Hospital, Indian Health Service

A key strategy for preventing further spread of COVID-19 is through contact tracing. Contact tracing is a core disease control measure that involves identifying the people who have come in contact with those who have an infectious disease. Throughout the Indian health system, we ... Continue reading

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Critical Care Response Team deploys to the Claremore Indian Hospital in Oklahoma

September 4, 2020
by George Valliere, chief executive officer, Claremore Indian Hospital, Oklahoma City Area IHS

The Indian Health Service announced the formation of a COVID-19 Critical Care Response Team to provide deployable resources to augment urgent lifesaving medical care to COVID-19 patients admitted to IHS or tribal hospital emergency department or inpatient ... Continue reading

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IHS doctor recounts her experiences managing the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic

August 19, 2020
by Natalie Holt, MD, deputy chief medical officer, Great Plains Area Indian Health Service

At the corner of the white board in my office, I have the following notation: 3/19: U.S. Cases: 16,621; U.S. Deaths: 225.

That was in the early days of our implementing Incident Command at the Great Plains Area office in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic.  Nearly five months later, ... Continue reading

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Notice of Funding Opportunity for Tribal Self-Governance Planning and Negotiation Activities

August 6, 2020
by Jennifer Cooper, Director, Office of Tribal Self-Governance

The funding opportunity for the Fiscal Year 2021 Tribal Self-Governance Planning and Negotiation Cooperative Agreements, administered by the Office of Tribal Self-Governance, is now available and published in the federal register. The deadline to apply is October 28, 2020.

... Continue reading