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LOUISVILLE — Health risks are greater, access to health care is more difficult and the rate of diabetes, injuries and respiratory infections are as much as three times higher among Native Americans than the general U.S. population.
That’s according to the first phase of a comprehensive study being compiled to identify factors influencing the health of Native American Presbyterians.
Once completed, the study will form the basis of a new health ministry model for Native American congregations in the Presbyterian Church (USA). The study is being conducted by the denomination’s Office of Health Ministries USA, part of the PC(USA)’s National Ministries Division.
“Our challenge in creating the model was first to develop a comprehensive picture of the health risks and care accessibility issues and now is to design, out of our faith tradition, a holistic model that respects and integrates Native American culture and tradition as these health issues are addressed,” said Patricia K. Gleich, associate for Health Ministries USA.
The study uses information collected through focus groups conducted with members of the PC(USA)’s Native American Consulting Committee, the Presbyterian Women of the Dakota Presbytery and from key leaders of Native American congregations throughout the denomination.
Additional data on health risks and disparities were collected using records of the Indian Health Service, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and from the Strong Heart Study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD.
The Health Ministry Model for Native American Congregations will combine Native American healing culture and tradition with health education focusing on prevention and wellness.
“It is our hope that this health ministry model can be useful for Native American congregations and the wider church,” Gleich said. “Incorporating a process of validation and healing, moving toward a wholeness that is both equal to and greater than physical health and well-being.”
Major health concerns identified so far:
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD), rare among Native Americans and Alaska Natives just two generations ago, is now the leading cause of death for these groups. Hypertension, compounding the risk for CVD, is also increasing.
- Meanwhile, suicide continues to be the second leading cause of death among 15-to-24-year-old Native Americans and Alaska Natives. Automobile accidents are the leading cause of death for Native American children ages 1-9.
- Approximately 15.3 percent of Native Americans have diabetes, compared with 7.3 percent of all U.S. adults. As many as 50 percent of adults in some tribes have diabetes.
- Bronchiolitis, an infection of the small airways leading to the lungs, accounts for more than twice as many outpatient visits and nearly 60 percent more hospitalizations among Native American children compared to the general U.S. average. Rates highest in Alaska and the southwest.
- HIV/AIDS is increasing in Native American Communities. In 2002, the AIDS diagnosis rate for Native American and Alaska Native adolescents and adults was 1.6 times higher than for non-Hispanic whites.
- Native American and Alaska Natives experience a death rate from AIDS 1.3 times that of whites. The death rate from AIDS was 4.9 per 100,000 Native Americans and 3.32 for whites.
- Native Americans have a particularly high incidence of gallbladder disease. By the age of 60, Native American women have a 75 percent chance of developing gallbladder disease.
Focus group participants cited a variety of barriers to care as being major issues contributing to illness and at times death. The groups found that most areas on reservations are medically underserved, resulting in:
- Few emergency services, ambulances and life support equipment.
- Long distances to hospital emergency room care and services.
- Inadequate and inconsistent service provided through Indian Health Services (IHS), the federal health program for Native Americans and Alaska Natives.
- Eligibility for IHS care is often non-transferable from one geographic location to another.
- Lack of prevention education and few disease prevention programs exist in communities.
- Lack of understanding and disrespect for Native American culture by non-native service providers.
- Lack of health education programs geared toward youth.
- A sense of despair that is frequently undergirded by internalized oppression and unresolved grief — the vestiges of which may be rooted in the practices of colonialism.
The Office of Health Ministries USA provides ministry models, program resources, health awareness information, research, training and preparation to support individual Presbyterians, congregations and governing bodies in mission focused health ministry. For more information about the Office of Health Ministries USA, log onto: www.pcusa.org/health/usa.
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