SKC hosts the Community Health Fair and Screening for next Tuesday

PABLO — SKC is hosting the SKC Community Health and Development (CHD) Department's Health Fair and Screening on Tuesday, April 24, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m at the Late Louie Caye Building. The screening is part of their Traditional Living Challenge (TLC) research project. They need simple blood and body measurements from a random sample of 210 tribal community members for base-line data. A mailing went out to the randomly selected members this week. Watch for your letter! However, you don't need a letter to come. It's a family event. There will be healthy snacks, dry meat samples, information on how to stay healthy, ancestral skills demonstrations, and door prizes.

The TLC is applying a relatively new concept in research in Indian country. The idea for the research came out of Anita Dupuis' masters in public health thesis and is based on input from members of the community through key informant interviews. This type of research is called Community-based Participatory Research or CBPR. It is being conducted in full partnership with the tribal community.

According to Ms. Dupuis, "The Traditional Living Challenge is just what it says: a challenge to adapt to modern life the dietary and lifestyle principles that, as I see it, were a gift to our ancestors, but must be a conscious choice for us today. The heart of the TLC is immersion in tribal lifestyles including a 10-day encampment where traditional foods are eaten to the extent possible and some traditional living skills, like cordage-making, hide tanning, flint napping, etc. are taught. Those who went on the first camp found out how much physical activity is required to live in the woods for ten days, even with some modern conveniences like pick-up trucks and chain saws for gathering firewood."

"We don't," Anita continued, "expect people to go back to living in tipis in the woods. Not only is that impractical, it is impossible. Instead, we want to help people find ways to honor the principles of our ancestral way of life-eating healthy food, getting lots of exercise, and returning to a traditional form of tobacco use. This is a culture-based intervention trying to address the health issues that have developed as a result of a more sedentary lifestyle which includes consuming foods and drinks high in carbohydrate and/or fat content and getting little exercise.

"Out of necessity, our ancestors ate the foods at hand--a fairly monotonous diet--which can be a good thing. In an experiment, mice fed excess quantities of food wouldn't gain weight until they were given a variety of foods. Too much variety might be our biggest problem...think of the smorgasbord potlucks. People think they have to taste everything!"

"They had even less choice during the early days of reservation life with limited mobility and government-issued commodity foods. However, today we do have choices and we must consciously make them to ensure our future generations are healthy. Commodity foods are no longer just white flour and lard. Not all of them are healthy, of course. But, with some nutritional education, we can choose to eat and cook foods so that they contribute to our health. The same is true with exercise and other activities; we can choose healthy lifestyles."

"But," she added, "It isn't always easy to make big lifestyle changes, especially when they have been ingrained. That's the reason for the camp. It's an opportunity to break the routine--to 'retrain' our taste buds and reactivate our muscles. And it's a chance to get a feel for what it might have been like to live in the way our ancestors did."

Anita promises: "At camp we don't just eat traditional foods, although we try to the first few days; it depends on our supplies. The key to making a long-term difference in our health is to identify and eat modern foods that match traditional foods as nearly as possible in nutritional value. We don't cook every meal over the campfire; nor do we light every fire by rubbing sticks together or using a flint stone, but we learn how to do those things. We also hunt; last year we got several grouse. As time allows-we found it takes a lot of time just keeping the camp going-we learn other traditional skills, play traditional games, and share stories."

"It's great fun, and being in nature has such a calming effect." It feels like a much-needed retreat from this hectic modern world. One person who heard about it called it an 'Indian Spa,'" Anita said, laughing. "Maybe that is what it is."

She went on to say, "During the interviews for my master's thesis, people said that the TLC should become our substance abuse prevention and treatment program. My response was 'Let's see if we can get some strong hearts out to do this first. Let's create something that people come to because of its cultural draw; because of its life-enhancing qualities; because it is fun, rather than presenting it as a program to fix people as though there is something wrong.' In the course of my studies, I also learned about a nutritional approach to substance abuse and mental health that I believe has merit. Perhaps the TLC could become this type of approach."

This year's TLC camps will be held in June and August. There will also be day and weekend excursions to gather food and materials and to learn about plants, geology, and ecology. Watch for schedules and more information.

The TLC is funded by the Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health as a two-year pilot study. If the results of this pilot study look promising for helping to reduce the risks of heart disease among our people, it will likely be funded as a full 5-plus year study. The community random sampling is key to showing the promise of this type of intervention.

Someone who consents to being part of the random sample and meets the qualifications can also sign up to be a full participant in the study. Qualifications include being between the ages of 12 and 55 with no diagnosis of heart disease; being a member or descendant of a recognized tribe; and being a permanent resident on the Flathead Reservation. CHD staff will be on hand Tuesday to explain the study further. There will also be a video of the first camp. People who are interested can sign up for a follow-up meeting to learn more about the on-going TLC study, for the Toddler Obesity Prevention study we are running for pregnant moms, and other CHD programs. Or, if this article has sparked interest or questions of any kind, call 275-2862 or stop by the CHD office (old Char-Koosta building). You may reach Anita directly at 275-2863.