Among NIH speakers on health care access equity were Acting Surgeon General Rear Admiral Boris D. Lushniak (2nd from right) and Dr. Donald Warne, Phd., MD. Photo Courtesy/NDSU/MPH
Lakota leaders step up for Indian health care
By Talli Nauman
Native Sun News
Health & Environment Editor BETHESDA, Md. — Peter Catches, co-founder of the Pine Ridge-based Oceti Wakan, and Dr. Donald Warne, an Oglala Lakota who directs the Master of Public Health program at North Dakota State University, took part in the First Annual Pocahontas Memorial Research Symposium at the National Institutes of Health, participants announced June 2. The research symposium was conceived to focus attention on healthcare equity for women. It addressed the connection between spiritual and physical health, a concept that has always been a part of traditional medicine, Oceti Wakan said in a news release. The event, celebrated just outside Washington, D.C., preceded a panel discussion in which Acting Surgeon General Boris D. Lushniak joined the Lakota leaders. Warne initiated a series of talks with a presentation on “American Indian Health Policies and Health Disparities," which was addressed by other speakers throughout the May 16 symposium. Peter Catches followed with a presentation on “Spiritual Care the Lakota Way.” He has conducted the Spotted Eagle Sundance for 38 continuous years, the longest running in Lakota country, according to Oceti Wakan. He has spoken in colleges and universities across the country from what it calls the Spotted Eagle View on the timeless symbolism of the Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota and the importance of saving the Lakota language, “as it is the very heart of the Lakota culture.” The symposium laid a foundation for the next day’s panel discussion at the NIH, in which participants interacted “with the hope of making a difference for the people here at Pine Ridge,” Oceti Sakowin said. The Mary Elizabeth Conover Foundation provided a grant for Catches’ journey, so he could accept the Surgeon General’s invitation to Health and Human Services offices for a second time in his life. He and his late father Pete Catches Sr. founded Oceti Wakan in what he said is a “response to the events that have devastated the Lakota people over the past six generations.” The mission of the organization is “creating a place for the healing of the family as a whole by rekindling Lakota spiritual values and culture." His non-profit aims to establish an educational & ceremonial center impart Lakota virtues, values, arts, and skills “to be a better human being, to heal the past, and make a better future for the generations to come." Catches’ nephew, Warne is invited as a presenter at the 5th Annual American Council for Medicinally Active Plants Conference, sponsored by the American Council for Medicinally Active Plants, June 15-18, at the Ramada Plaza Suites and Conference Center in Fargo, North Dakota. On June 16 at 3:30 p.m., he is set to address “Crops for Health as Solution to Chronic Diseases: Strategic Vision for Agriculture and Global Food Security”. He will address “Global Indigenous Chronic Disease Burden: Role of Medicinal Plants and Foods" at a 6 p.m. banquet on June 17. (Contact Talli Nauman NSN Health and Environment Editor at talli.nauman@gmail.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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