rootedinthemtns.wcu.edu

Thank you to our sponsors Office of the Provost, Ambassador Jeanette Hyde Distinguished Professor, Distinguished Professor, Native-Controlling Hypertension and Risk through Technology (U54MD011240), & the Center for Native Health

Art by Paula Nelson

Heart Health - Women’s Health: Rooted in Culture This symposium is in memory and honor of two mountain people of Jackson County, NC September 27-28, 2018 Jean Nations Lefler and Dale Nations WCU Blue Ridge Conference Room Day One - Thursday September 27, 2018

9:00AM Registration NOTES

9:30AM Welcome Mr. Tom Belt, Dr. Lisa Lefler, & Dr. R. Turner Goins ______Morning Welcome Song and Prayer Mr. Tom Belt ______

9:45AM Keynote Address - Woman as the First Environment ______Ms. Katsi Cook

10:45AM Panel - Language & Women’s Health ______Moderator: Dr. Sarah Snyder Panelists: Ms. Onita Bush, Ms. Lou Jackson, Ms. Lisa Denzer, ______& Ms. Sami Chen ______10:45AM Health Needs Assessment

12:00 Noon Lunch (On your own) ______

1:30PM Panel - Women Choosing a Path of Healing ______Drs. Stephanie Hornbuckle, Carmen Nations, & Blythe Winchester ______

2:30PM Violence Against Native Women ______Professor Rebecca Tsosie

3:30PM Panel - Issues of Violence and Native Women ______Moderator: Dr. Lisa Lefler Panelist: Ms. Billie Jo Rich, Ms. Terri Henry, & Ms. Sarah ______Sneed ______4:30PM Adjourn

6:00PM Fish Fry Dinner Thank you for attending. We look forward to seeing you Qualla Crafts Mutual & Gallery, 645 Blvd, Cherokee next year!

Dr. Sara Snyder is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology Day Two - Friday September 28, 2018 and Sociology at Western Carolina University, where she is also the Director of the Program. She 9:30AM Welcome and Announcements received her PhD in ethnomusicology from Columbia Drs. Lisa Lefler & R. Turner Goins University in 2016, and spent 5 years working for the Kituwah Preservation and Education Program as the music and arts Morning Welcome Song and Prayer teacher for New Kituwah Academy (EBCI language immersion Mr. Tom Belt school). At WCU, Sara teaches Cherokee language classes as well as linguistic anthropology and directs the Cherokee Language Repertory 9:45AM Public Health Ethics and Indian Country Choir. Sara also plays trumpet and sings with community groups throughout the Mr. Dave Baldridge WNC region. 10:30AM The Strong Heart Study and SANDS: From Observation to Rebecca Tsosie, JD (Yaqui) is Regents Professor of Law at the University of Intervention Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law with the Indigenous Dr. Wm. Jim Howard Peoples Law and Policy Program, and Special Advisor to the Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion for the University of 11:30AM Health Needs Assessment Arizona. She has extensive experience working with tribal communities across Indian Country and currently serves as 11:45AM Lunch (On your own) appellate judge for the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation's Supreme Court and San Carlos Apache Tribe's Court of Appeals. 1:15PM Developing a Mindfulness Program for Stress Reduction She is co-author of the federal Indian law casebook American with Native Communities Indian Law: Native Nations and the Federal System. She was previously Regents Dr. Jeff Proulx Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law and Vice Provost for Inclusion and Community Engagement at Arizona State University. Professor 2:15PM Panel - Heart Health: Cherokee Men and Stories of Heart Tsosie, of Yaqui descent, additionally served as the Executive Director of the Health and Recovery Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law Indian Legal Program from 1996-2011. Moderator: Dr. Lisa Lefler Panelist: Mr. Tom Belt & Mr. T.J. Holland

) is an enrolled member of the Eastern Band Dr. Blythe Winchester (EBCI 3:00PM Closing Remarks/Discussion of Cherokee Indians and resides on the with Facilitators: Drs. Mae Claxton & Lisa Lefler her husband, seven dogs, and one cat. She graduated from UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine with a dual MD/MPH Closing Blessing degree and completed her Family Medicine Residency Reverend Rosemary Peek through Greenville Hospital System in Greenville, SC. She completed her Geriatrics Fellowship through Mountain Area 3:30PM Adjourn Health Education Center in Asheville, NC and now practices at Cherokee Indian Hospital and Tsali Care Center. She also serves as the Chief Clinical Consultant in Geriatrics and Palliative Care for Indian Health Service. Today’s speakers were made possible through

2018 PRESENTERS AND PANELISTS Reverend Rosemary Peek is a Pastor for the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Sylva, NC and Pastor for the Lutheran Campus Dave Baldridge () is a nationally recognized Native advocate Ministry at Western Carolina University. She received a B.A. in for elder issues and has served as the Executive Director of the Public History at Queens University, Charlotte, and graduated International Association for Indigenous Aging since 2003. He from the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, was also the Executive Director of the National Indian Council SC in 2008. on Aging from 1992-2002. Dave has been actively involved in public policy and research efforts on federal, state, and local levels and include leading national advocacy for the Older Americans Act services for American Indian elders. He has Dr. Jeff Proulx (Mohawk) is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of authored numerous papers on Indian health, demographics, Neurology at the Oregon Health & Science University. Growing and culture. He has advocated Indian aging issues for up, Jeff was affected by stress-related outcomes he witnessed in Congressional subcommittees, federal task forces, state aging Native American and African American communities. However, organizations, long-term care providers, Indian organizations, and tribal- & inter- he was much more influenced by the strengths of these tribal councils. communities, which has guided his research into the positive features of underserved communities to address health Tom Belt (Cherokee Nation) is a Cherokee Language Instructor at WCU, a citizen disparities. of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and a fluent Cherokee speaker. He attended the Universities of Oklahoma and Billie Jo Rich (EBCI) Colorado and taught Cherokee language at the Cherokee Elementary School for 7 years. He is a frequent guest lecturer at universities including Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, Purdue, Stanford, Univ. of Pennsylvania, and Yale. He also works as a consultant for the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia and the

Center for Native Health. Tom is also a member of the Sarah Margaret Sneed, JD (EBCI) is an enrolled member of the Smithsonian Institution’s Native Culture & Health Workgroup. Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, a 1981 graduate, cum laude

Onita Bush (EBCI) is a tribal elder, fluent Cherokee speaker, and member of the in history from the University of Colorado Boulder, and a 1985 Snowbird Community in Graham County, NC. She serves on the graduate of Harvard Law School. She has developed a number Executive Board of the Center for Native Health, Inc., and assists of educational presentations on the history of the EBCI and with the Center’s annual spring “Medicine Walk” intended to boarding school experiences of EBCI members. Ms. Sneed inform health professionals who work with the Cherokee facilitated community research and discussion and was the community. Onita is a home health provider for the EBCI in the author of the Final Report and Recommendations of the Snowbird Community. She additionally leads a group of Snowbird Governing Documents Review Committee, 2011, a project elder women in providing resources to young people on the topic authorized by the EBCI Tribal Council. Ms. Sneed was the of childcare, substance abuse, and well-being from a Cherokee presenter at the Annual Public Lecture in Native Health at Western Carolina perspective. University’s College of Health and Human Sciences in 2016. Ms. Sneed lives in Birdtown Community of the Qualla Boundary. Lou Jackson (EBCI) recently retired from the Snowbird Clinic in Robbinsville, NC Pediatrics. She enjoys photography, movies, reading, and traveling with her and was previously an emergency room nurse in Andrews, NC. family. After retirement in 2012, she started gardening, babysitting her granddaughter, and working with the Cherokee Language Sami Chen (Cherokee Nation) is one of Tom Belt’s students through distance Consortium. She spent this past summer working with the learning. She is a 3rd year PhD student in the Earth System Cherokee language summer program and hopes to continue in Science Dept. at Stanford University, and her research focuses the preservation of the Cherokee language. In her spare time, on remote sensing, biogeochemistry, ecohydrology, and Lou has traveled abroad doing foreign missions in Honduras traditional ecological knowledge. Sami (also of Chinese, Scots- building homes and churches. Irish, & Welsh ancestry) is the current president for the Stanford Native American Graduate Students, a student organization that brings Native students together to build Dr. Lisa Lefler is the Director for the Culturally Based Native Health Programs at community and provide academic, professional, and cultural WCU as well as the Founder and Executive Director for the resources for American Indian, First Nations, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Center for Native Health, Inc. She received her PhD from the Stanford graduate students. University of Tennessee and is an Applied Medical Anthropologist. She has worked with dozens of Tribal Dr. Mae Claxton received her PhD from the University of Georgia and teaches communities in the U.S., including the Eastern Band of classes in Southern, Appalachian, and Native American Cherokee Indians in NC, as well as the Kiowa, Comanche, literature. In 2012, she published Conversations with Dorothy Apache, and Chickasaw Nations in OK. She organized the first Allison, was a contributing editor to the Heath Anthology of workshop of its kind on the East Coast to bring national tribal American Literature (6th Edition), and co-editor of the elders to dialogue about the Native Science worldview and McMichael Anthology of American Literature (8th Edition). Her how it can create positive paradigm shifts in our approach to health, focus is primarily on Eudora Welty, but she has expanded her environmental, and wellness concerns. She is a member of the tribal cultural IRB interests to Horace Kephart, an Appalachian writer, and the for the EBCI and has organized several sessions at regional and national meetings Native South. Her articles have appeared in journals including of anthropologists and Native partners to discuss issues of conducting research Mississippi Quarterly, South Atlantic Review, and Southern Quarterly. She was the in Indian Country. Lisa is a Consulting Scholar to the Center for Native American Hunter Scholar at WCU for 2012-2013 and served as President of the Eudora and Indigenous Research at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia Welty Society from 2010-2012. and a member of the Smithsonian Institution’s Native Culture & Health Workgroup. Lisa also serves on the Tribal Health Improvement Plan Workgroup Katsi Cook (Mohawk) is an Aboriginal Midwife, mother of six, and grandmother for the EBCI’s Public Health & Human Services Division. of ten. She has worked as a Mohawk Midwife, women's health advocate, and activist for environmental restoration in her Dr. Carmen Nations (EBCI) graduated from Sylva Webster High School and Tribal community—the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne—for received her BS from Appalachian State. Additionally, she over 25 years. Since 1983, Katsi (pronounced Gudji) has received her medical degree from the University of Utah conducted award-winning environmental justice health School of Medicine and did her Pediatric Residency from East research in her home community & was a recipient of the Tennessee State University. She is married to Clay Nations Indigenous Knowledge Cultural Researcher Award from the and is mom to a 13-year-old daughter named Evan. Dr. Indigenous Health Research Development Program at the University of Toronto. Nations is currently a full-time pediatrician at Cherokee Katsi is the Director of Running Strong for American Indian Youth and founder of Indian Hospital and serves as the Outpatient Clinical Director and Director of the organization's Woman is the First Environment Collaborative, which supports community-based health projects that seek to empower Native women of all ages and increase knowledge concerning reproductive health. She has groups. She was also the founder and member of the National Congress of American founded a number of organizations serving the Akwesasne community, including Indians Task Force on Violence Against Native Women in Washington, D.C. the Women's Dance Health Program, the Mother's Milk Monitoring Project, and the Konon:kwe Council. T.J. Holland (EBCI) is the Cultural Resources Officer for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and is Director and Curator of the Lisa Denzer received her BSN from Bowling Green State University and her MSN Memorial Museum in Robbinsville, NC. Holland serves as Board from the University of South Florida, and has since been a certified Chair of the EBCI Cultural Internal Review Board and as a Family Nurse Practitioner for 25 years. She served in the USAF as member of the EBCI Medical IRB for the Tribe. He is on the a Flight Nurse and transferred to the US Public Health Service Executive Board for the Center for Native Health, Inc. and Commission Corp when she accepted a position at Cherokee Indian provides lectures for Cherokee Studies programs at WCU. He is Hospital at the Snowbird Clinic in 1998. Lisa is the sole primary a Consulting Scholar to the Center for Native American and care provider for over 500 patients and is a Certified Diabetes Indigenous Research at the American Philosophical Society in Educator. She leads the remarkably successful 16-week Cherokee Philadelphia. T.J. is an active participant in traditional activities including stickball, Strong Diabetes Prevention program in the community as well as provides primary and he helps to organize the annual event, Fading Voices, that provides an opportunity care to residents at the new residential treatment center Kanvwotiyi. She loves running for non- to learn about the Snowbird Community and their traditions. He with her dog Max. Lisa has one son who lives in Alaska and whose wife is a wonderful also writes a column for the Cherokee One Feather on the history and importance of Cherokee Snowbird lady he met while attending Snowbird Daycare. Cherokee sites.

Dr. R. Turner Goins is the Ambassador Jeanette W. Hyde Endowed Professor of Dr. Stephanie Hornbuckle (EBCI) is an enrolled member of the Eastern Band Gerontological Social Work at WCU. She is a gerontologist and, for the last 18 years, of Cherokee Indians and resides in the Paint Town community her research has focused on American Indian and Alaska Native with her husband, Jonathan, and her two children ages 6 and 5, health and aging-related issues. She received her PhD from the Lila and Sam. She graduated from Brody School of Medicine at University of Massachusetts, Boston, and has received intensive East Carolina University and completed her General Surgery mentoring by leaders in the field of American Indian and Alaska Residency at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Native health. Turner was recently a Fulbright Scholar in New Medicine in Knoxville, TN. She is a Fellow of the American Zealand (2018) and is a fellow in the Gerontological Society of College of Surgeons and practices at the Cherokee Indian America as well as past President of the Southern Gerontological Hospital. She also performs surgeries at the outpatient clinic in Cherokee and at Harris Society (2016-17). She has published over 75 peer-reviewed manuscripts in research Regional Hospital in Sylva, NC. journals and also serves on EBCI’s Medical IRB. She lives in Candler, NC with her husband Clayton and their 4-year-old son Cole. Dr. Wm. Jim Howard received his medical degree from the University of

Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and has been actively engaged Terri Henry (EBCI) was the first female Tribal Council Chair of the Eastern Band in the medical community and medical research ever since, of Cherokee Indians. She was born in Yellowhill but spent most especially regarding metabolic diseases and heart health in Native of her life in Painttown. She attended the University of North American communities. Among numerous other national Carolina - Asheville and received her law degree from the appointments, he was most recently the Vice Chair for the University of Iowa. Terri spent time working of the U.S. Census American Board of Clinical Lipidology. Additionally, Dr. Department and the Indian Law Resource Center in D.C. In 1999, Howard has additionally been involved in The Strong Heart Study she founded the Qualla Women’s Justice alliance in in 2001 and the SANDS Trial (both studying diabetes and cardiovascular founded Clan Star, both of which are domestic violence advocacy disease in American Indians), as well as the GOCADAN Study, which looked at the genetics of cardiovascular disease in Native Alaskans.