Healers at Wounded Knee Video Series
WXOW News 19 Daybreak anchor Amy DuPont and photographer Kirk Arneson chronicled a group of volunteers from Gundersen Lutheran as they traveled to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to help improve the quality of healthcare in one of the poorest areas in the country.
"Healers at Wounded Knee" won a regional Emmy for a News Special at the Midwest Emmy Awards ceremony on September 26, 2011!
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The first partnership developed by Global Partners is within the borders of the United States. Gundersen Lutheran and Native American leaders in South Dakota mutually selected Pine Ridge Reservation as a Global Partners site. Specifically, The Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairman’s Health Board, Oglala Lakota College School of Nursing , the Oglala Sioux Tribal leadership and the Porcupine Clinic Board have been instrumental in determining the issues that need attention first. Plans for Global Partners’ involvement in the community currently include:
- Providing primary and chronic healthcare services, such as diabetes management, through volunteer medical teams. Primary healthcare services are not readily available to members of the community.
- Providing specialty services that are needed on Pine Ridge, such as dermatology clinics, surgical services and cancer screening.
- Supporting diabetes education and other health education activities on the reservations.
- Creating classroom-to-classroom partnerships between the School District of La Crosse and Pine Ridge schools.
Our staff will gain much from this relationship. For example, Native Americans focus on the entire well-being of a person, from the spiritual to the physical to the emotional. These lessons can be used when our care teams return home, and improve the healthcare experience for our patients.
Interested in learning more about the Pine Ridge partnerships?
The Pine Ridge volunteer medical team "debriefs" each month on the Tuesday following their trip, from 4:45-5:45 p.m. in the Gundersen Lutheran Hospital Board Room (off of the cafeteria). The purpose of this meeting is to allow the team to share about their month's experiences (successes, challenges, learnings, etc.) and provide an orientation to the next team heading to Pine Ridge. However, anyone interested in learning about the volunteer opportunities at Pine Ridge - GL employees, friends, community members, etc. - is welcome to attend these meetings. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012. The debriefing meeting following the April trip is scheduled for April 24.