Three Rivers and Optometry School

As someone who is highly interested in the medical fields, I found the activities we did related to medicine in the Cherokee Nation very interesting. The presentation at Three Rivers Medical Center in Muskogee was very helpful in showing me what goes into the administration of hospitals and health systems in American Indian nations. I initially viewed the Indian Health Service as an organization just dealing with hospitals and healthcare provisions before I knew all of what it was. I think it’s great that the IHS is also involved in sanitation and the promotion of healthy living through support of the farmers’ market, etc. Improved sanitation and the availability of potable water eliminate health problems such as cholera and tuberculosis. And the promotion of healthy eating and living can combat diabetes, which is a huge problem in Oklahoma in general, not just in Indian communities. Only having dealt with hospitals my entire life, these crucial elements in health service simply slipped my mind.

I gained a lot of insight into the state of health in American Indian and Alaskan Native communities in general from the information we were given in the packets. I had a couple of other questions about the presentation. I would have liked to see statistics for the state of health only in the Cherokee Nation. I have heard that diabetes is a major problem in the Cherokee Nation – the figure was given at 30%. I would like to know how that compares with the next leading health problem. Also, I would like to know how being a doctor at an IHS clinic or hospital is different than working for a university or private hospital on a day to day basis. I would also like to know what kinds of cases primary care doctors get. Sometimes a cluster of similar but unrelated cases can reveal an uninvestigated problem. For example, there seem to be a disproportionate number of pancreatitis cases in some areas of North Carolina. I don’t know why.

The optometry school tour also helped me understand the state of health care in the Cherokee Nation. The most telling thing was finding out that diabetes is the leading cause of blindness seen at the optometry school. Considering all the causes of blindness, and how probable some of them are (like aging), the fact that diabetes leads reveals just how serious an issue diabetes is.

What made me happiest, though, was hearing that the IHS gives educational assistance to American Indians pursuing educations in medical and health related fields. This is great because if you look at the annual cost of going to medical school, pharmacy school, optometry school, and even a lot of universities for undergraduate study, that is a bunch of money. That fact alone deters many highly qualified people from considering those occupations. I’m glad that the IHS is supporting medical education – that is one of the best ways to improve health in Indian communities.