Modern and Native Medicine: How

They Have Been Simultaneously

Incorporated Into Society
Researched by: Ainsley and Annabel Merritt
Our Essential Question:

How has Native American medicine begun to be incorporated into western

medicine? And vise versa?
How we answered this question:
We found the answer to this overarching question by creating smaller questions
having to do with different aspects of this topic. We then filtered our research in
order to get what we needed to answer our essential question.

Our Smaller Questions:

● How do Native Americans receive their medical care? Do they have to pay for
health care and how does it work?
● How does Native American medicine differ from modern medicine?
● What are IHS Health Care Facilities on reservations like?
● Is Native American medicine scientifically proven effective?
● Why are some people hesitant to use Native American medicine?
● How can Native American medicine be integrated with modern medicine and
how has it been in the past?
How do Native Americans receive their medical care? Do
they have to pay for health care and how does it work?

● Unlike other minority groups in the United States, “Native Americans have legal
rights to federal health care services” (“Native American Health”)
● It is harder for Native Americans living in urban areas to have access to this free
health care.
● Tribes have the option to receive direct services
from IHS, to have their own health care facilities
with the ability to seek help from the IHS, or fully
establish their own health care system with no
help from the IHS (“Native American Health”).
 How does Native American medicine differ from
modern medicine?
● “Most tribes believed that health was
an expression of the spirit and a
continual process of staying strong
spiritually, mentally, and physically”
(“Native American Medicine”)
● “Passed down orally” from
generations (“Native American
Medicine”).
● believe being healthy “requires a
close connection to the earth and
living in harmony with the
environment” (Koithan)
● Although variations in medicine among
different tribes, natives have “shared
health beliefs and interventional
strategies” (Koithan)
● How Native Americans Treat Illnesses:
○ Herbs (from surrounding
environment)
○ Manipulative therapies
○ Ceremonies
○ Prayer (Koithan)
● Ceremonies “involve the patient, the
family, and the community in the healing
process” (Koithan)
 What have western doctors learned from Native American
doctors?

University of Pittsburgh Medical Study

-treated 116 patients with Native American Medicine
-more than “80% of patients showed significant benefits” (Mehl-Madrona)

What Madrona, the medical director, learned from the traditional healer:
1. “Healing takes time”
2. The better relationship with the patient, the better outcome
3. Patients need to want to get better
4. “Distractions of the modern life help stray away from healing”
5. Healing requires a “break in usual daily rhythms”
Lewis Mehl-Madrona
(Mehl-Madrona)
 Hesitancy to use Herbal Native American Medicine

● Lack of data on many herbal plants

● Lack of uniform quality in herbal products
● Many different aspects can affect
botanical quality
○ Species differences, seasonal variation,
environment, contamination, cultivation
methods, manufacturing practices (Fong)
● The plant must be accurately identified
● In the United States, very few botanical
products today are “available as over the
counter drugs” (Fong).
○ Mainly marketed as dietary supplements
What are IHS Health Care Facilities on Native American
reservations like?

● Underfunded
○ The Indian Health Service has “half as much funding as it needs” (Dovey).
● Unsafe
○ Investigated recently by inspectors with Medicaid Service (Dovey).
○ In the 1970s, the IHS sterilized many Native American women either by force or without their
consent which is considered abuse by the law (Carpio).
● In small numbers
○ On the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota, one IHS facility is alloted for “over
17 miles” worth of people (Friedman).
● Do not share patient data with other facilities
○ Problematic
Tribally Run Health Care Clinics Today:
1. MNI Wiconi Health Clinic Partnership at Standing Rock (“Mni Wiconi”)
- “indigenous health perspectives prevail”(“Mni Wiconi”).
- run by Sioux Tribal members Linda Black Elk (PhD) and Sara Jumping
Eagle (MD).
- Sioux elders requested a farm at the health clinic.

2. Reno-Sparks Tribal Health Center in the Reno Colony

-goal is to raise the “physical, mental, social, and spiritual health” of the patients
(“Reno Sparks”).
-a seven member board, “appointed by the Native Americans on the Reserve”,
decides on the policies and procedures (“Reno Sparks”).
-staff also signs up patients for Medicaid and other health care programs if they
are eligible.
Western and Native American Medicine Workshop

20th Annual Cross Cultural Medicine Workshop

● Brings together western doctors and Native American Healers.

● Includes “presentations about traditional indigenous medicine and how it can
complement, enhance, and strengthen Western healthcare”(Koepke).
● From the ‘“perspective of the traditional healer”’(Koepke).
● 2-3 Native American Speakers.
Thesis:

Native American medicine has begun to be incorporated into western medicine

through recent research studies of the effectiveness of native medicine created by
universities and through the use of herbal remedies in western medicine. However,
there is still tentativeness in the incorporation of herbal medicine due to the lack of
research on herbal plants. On the other side of this issue, many Native Americans
receive western medicine through free IHS Health Care facilities that are severely
underfunded and through tribally run health care clinics where traditional and
modern medicine are used side by side.
Our Audience:
Original Audience:
- Medical school students and teachers at Dell Medical
school
- Health care organizations

Updated Audience:
- Patients in Austin at local health clinics

We believe this is an appropriate audience because these patients are the people
that are able to choose their medical treatment so by giving them information on the
benefits of using Native American Medicine, they could possibly choose to
incorporate it into their treatment option.
Our project proposals:

● Project Idea 1: Create a public service announcement where we describe

traditional Native American medicine how it can lead to greater overall healing
of the patient and email it to medical school teachers and health care clinics to
show their students/employees.

● Project Idea 2: Create an informational flier with the same information as the
psa and hang it up at local hospitals, medical care centers, and/or traditional
medicine centers in Austin.
Final Project:
We ended up passing out fliers at local
health care centers and pharmacies.
Medsavers Pharmacy

Our
Flier

Medspring People’s Pharmacy

How Our Project Reaches Our Targeted Audience:
Our project reaches our target audience because we were able to administer our
fliers in the waiting rooms of several health clinics where they would be easily
accessible to patients, our targeted audience.
What We Would do Differently:

If we were to do this again but have more time, we would have started contacting
health care specialists earlier so we could coordinate better with our original
targeted audience of medical students in order to make an impact on the future of
medicine.
Why is this issue important?
● To preserve Native American medicine
● Utilize its physical and spiritual benefits for patients
● Recognize Native American medicine can be used with modern medicine
● Recognize that more research needs to be done on traditional medicine
Works Cited
Carpio, Myla Vicenti. “The Lost Generation: American Indian Women and Sterilization Abuse.” Social Justice, vol. 31, no. 4, 2004, pp.
40–53. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/29768273.

Dovey, Dana. “Healthcare on Native American Reservations is ‘Horrifying:’ in the US, Who You Are Affects How You’re Treated.”
Medical Daily, 5 Feb. 2016, https://www.medicaldaily.com/native-american-reservations-healthcare-terrible-372442. Accessed
23 Feb. 2019.

Fong, Harry H. S. “Integration of Herbal Medicine Into Modern Medical Practices: Issues and Prospects”, Integrative Cancer Therapies,
SAGE Journals, vol. 1, no. 3, 2002, pp. 287-293. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/153473540200100313. Accessed
23 Feb. 2019.

Friedman, Misha. “For Native Americans, Health Care Is A Long, Hard Road Away.” Health News from NPR, National Public Radio,
Inc, 13 Apr. 2016,
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/04/13/473848341/health-care-s-hard-realities-on-the-reservation-a-photo-essay.
Accessed 23 Feb. 2019.

Koepke, Kelly. “Traditional Healing Meets Western Medicine”, News Maven, Indian Country Today, 20 Apr. 2012,
https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/traditional-healing-meets-western-medicine-eO-9dqUsXkGakKWowAfnLw/.
Accessed 23 Feb. 2019.
Works Cited Cont.
Koithan, Mary and Cynthia Farrell. “Indigenous Native American Healing Traditions.” Journal for Nurse Practitioners : JNP, US
National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnological Information, vol. 6, no. 6, 2010, pp. 477-478.

Mehl-Madrona, Lewis. “Native American Medicine In the Treatment of Chronic Illness.” Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine,
1st ed., vol. 5, ProQuest, 1999, pp. 36–44.

“Mni Wiconi Health Clinic and Farm.” Mni Wiconi Health Clinic Partnership at Standing Rock, University of California San
Francisco Foundation, https://crowdfund.ucsf.edu/project/2913. Accessed 23 Feb. 2019.

“Native American Health: Historical and Legal Context.” Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity, National Center for
Biotechnological Information, edited by Baciu A, Negussie et. al., National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,
11 Jan. 2017, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK425854/. Accessed 23 Feb. 2019.

“Native American Medicine.” Legends of America, https://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-medicine/2/. Accessed 23 Feb. 2019.

“Reno Sparks Tribal Health Center.” Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, http://www.rsic.org/rsic-services/reno-sparks-tribal-health-center/.

Accessed 23 Feb. 2019.