It’s not often that an employer and employee have asymbiotic relationship.
But Samantha Martin and Native Images had just that.
With the help of SMU’s Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethicsand Public Responsibility, the SMU student interned at NativeImages this summer, an urban Indian center in Tucson, Ariz., thatintegrates traditional medicine with modern prevention programs.After Martin submitted an application for sponsorship, the centerpaid for her work at the non-profit organization with three otheremployees.
Martin, a 27-year-old graduate student in anthropology, was morethan willing to travel to Tucson, partly because it fit in soneatly with her academic interests.
“I’ve just known for years that I’ve wanted towork with urban Indians. I’m a medical anthropologist, so Iwanted to do something that was health-care related. This seemedlike the perfect place,” Martin said.
The Native Images health center focuses especially on HIV andhepatitis C prevention, but the programs also deal with other areasof holistic health.
For example, the health center teaches Natives ways of farming,prayers and the reasons for traditional ceremonies.
“The greatest challenge being an urban Indian is beingsurrounded by asphalt away from Mother Earth. Our goal is tocapture our ethnicity before it’s lost,” KristobalFimbres, the executive director of Native Images said.
The center also teaches children skills like basketry,horsemanship and tribal songs during summer programs. Additionally,it provides lessons in Native languages and prevention programs fordomestic violence.
Native Images is in the process of completing an HIV/ SubstanceAbuse Planning Grant and can’t yet provide testing services,so Martin spent much of her time in Tucson gathering informationand “identifying community perceptions, needs and developinga prevention program,” she said.
Native Americans especially are in need of urban health carecenters.
According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s office, more thanhalf live in urban non-reservation areas, and they also have higherrates of diabetes, heart disease and substance abuse than the restof the American population.
Only one-fifth of Native Americans report access togovernment-sponsored Indian Health Services, which are usually onlyfound on the reservations.
Roughly one-fourth have no health insurance, half haveemployer-based coverage and another 25 percent are covered byMedicaid.
Fimbres said one of his main goals is trying to incorporatetraditional medicine and culture into the holistic treatment ofclients that come to the center.
“It’s not an easy task, but we try to make it tribalspecific. We try to get a mentor from [the client’s] tribalgroup” to talk to them, Fimbres said.
HIV isn’t perceived by Natives as an especially bigproblem. Across the board, roughly 25 percent think it’sworrisome.
According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s office, NativeAmericans and Alaskan Natives make up 0.6 percent of new HIV cases,while they comprise only 0.7 percent of the total U.S.population.
But the level of knowledge has gotten better.
“There has been quite a bit of education going on outthere the last couple of years, mainly from the tribes,”Martin said.
Martin said the experience definitely reinforced her careerchoice. She is interested in pursuing a job in appliedanthropology, which has more focus on submergence in culture andworking in the field than academic anthropology.
Martin said her research not only helped her, but will have apositive impact on the Native community.
“Everything they were helping me to do, … they getaccess to all of it when I’m done. … Every bit of itis going to wind up going right back to them; if not Native Imagesthen just the community in general. They need the information justas much as I do,” Martin said.
