NATIVE AMERICAN

Health Beliefs

• Believe in being guided by sacred myths and legends.
• Supernatural beings in stories symbolize the culture.
• Individuals being in harmony with the surrounding environment and family.
• Health and religion go hand and hand.

Communication

• Instead of shaking hands they lightly touch the person they are greeting.
• They are silent and reserved until familiar, then warm behavior is demonstrated.
• When introducing themselves by name honor is given to the ancestors by stating clan and location of home area.
• They avoid eye contact, its a sign of disrespect.

Family Roles

• Extremely Family oriented.
• Biological family is the center of social organization and includes all members.
• Traditionally a matriarchal society.
• Male family member having the greatest amount of prestige rises as leader.
• In settling issues, all sides are listened to then determine an outcome.
• To be without relatives is to be really poor.

DEATH RITES

• Death ceremonies are a shared responsibility.
• Native Americans have a taboo against touching a dead person or anything associated with them.
• Warns others to stay away and burns the Hogan.

DIETARY

• Predisposition for diabetes and increasing obesity.
• Food preferred are meat and blue cornmeal.
• Primarily saturated fats and fiber intake is low.
• Commodity foods are supplied.

History of Native American Medicine

• Healing traditions go back for thousands of years.
• They mixed herbs, roots, and other natural plants that could heal medical problems.
• Herbal remedies stretched beyond the bodies aches and pains to the realm of spirituality and harmony.
• Remedies were gathered from their surroundings resulting in a wide variety of cures.
• Medical herbs and plants were seen as deeply sacred.
• They recovered from illnesses white men thought to be fatal.

Medicine Man

• Medicine with native Americans means Mystery.
• Priestly healer and spiritual leader.
• Believes that physical nature might be brought under control of man.
• Have supernatural connections with animals, supernatural creatures and all elements of nature.
• Bad spirits made man ill and entered his body and took his soul away.
• If medicine man became in control of the the bad spirit he was known as very powerful.
• Medicine man would know protective chants and words to disarm the bad spirit and protect their owner

HERBS USED TODAY

• Skunk cabbage and Mullein-asthma
• Arnica, Gentian, and horsemint-backache
• Catnip-Cold

BARRIERS:

• Very reserved
• Usage of herbs
• Doesn't like eye contact
• Doesn't trust easily

INTERVENTIONS

• Don't look them in the eye.
• Tell them all everything up front so they will be open with you.
• When they gain trust they will tell you about the herbs they take.
• Once they have that trust they show warm behavior.