UNMC Grant Strengthens Native American Response to
Diabetes Crisis
In the United States today, Native Americans face a number of
health issues, but none is as devastating and possibly preventable
as diabetes. Officials of Nebraskas Winnebago and Omaha tribes have
testified that Indians need more one-on-one counseling to get the message
about diabetes prevention and treatment. The University of Nebraska Medical
Center created a culturally innovative response to this diabetes crisis.
The UNMC School of Allied Health Professions, in partnership with the
tribal diabetes programs and the tribal colleges, received a three-year,
$420,000 grant entitled, Interdisciplinary Education in Rural Tribal Communities,
from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to train qualified
Native Americans as paraprofessional diabetes educator assistants.
These assistants effectively advocate diabetes prevention behaviors, monitor
diabetes home care, and facilitate cultural understanding between majority
health care providers and the Native American patients.
We already had a grant to send health professions students to
the Winnebago and Omaha Indian communities for cultural awareness training
and to experience rural interdisciplinary teamwork in the tribal diabetes
programs, said Mary Haven, project director and associate dean,
School of Allied Health Professionals.
Now we have the opportunity to actually train Native Americans to become
paid paraprofessional diabetes educator assistants. They live right in
the community and can extend the support network that helps Native Americans
manage their diabetes. These assistants simply get a better response to
diabetes awareness promotions against at risk behavior. We totally agree
with the tribal leaders that the best defense against diabetes must comes
from within the community one on one.
The Winnebago and Omaha tribal enrollments in Nebraska are approximately
1,500 and 3,200 members, respectively. A study of diabetes and its complications
in Northern Plains Indians found the Winnebago and Omaha tribes had a diabetes
prevalence rate five to eight times the U.S. rate. More than 80 percent
of adults over age 45 in the rural Winnebago tribe have Type 2 diabetes
and 40 percent of the tribal children are overweight, with some already
diagnosed with high levels of insulin in their bloodstream and hypertension.
Although the Indian Health Centers are well equipped, they lack funding
and sufficient numbers of Native American health care providers to implement
necessary education and wellness programs.
The grant also brings UNMC distance learning courses to the science
and health curricula of the Winnebago tribes Little Priest Tribal College
and the Omaha tribes Nebraska Indian Community College. SAHP will provide
mentors for students interested in health careers. This program encourages
students to complete their associate degree education and pursue one of
the 16 different health professions at UNMC.
The first full class of SAHP diabetes educator assistants will be this
spring. Haven said there are currently seven to eight students registered
for the first course at each tribal location, well over the target for
a class size of 10 students per course. Both Winnebago and Omaha tribes
currently have a diabetes program that includes nutritionists, podiatrists,
exercise physiologists, nurses, and educators who work with physicians
at the Indian Health Service Hospital at Winnebago and the Carl T. Curtis
Health Center at Macy. Professionals from the tribal diabetes programs
assist in the training of paraprofessionals.
The allied health professions include all health related disciplines
except medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, optometry and podiatry.
The allied health programs at UNMC include medical technology, physical
therapy, radiography, medical nutrition, medical sonography, physician
assistant, nuclear medicine, perfusion science, radiation therapy and cytotechnology.
For more information about the activities of this grant, contact
Haven at the UNMC School of Allied Health Professions at (402) 559-5903.
UNMC is the only public academic health science center in the state.
Through its commitment to research, education, outreach and patient care,
UNMC has established itself as one of the country’s leading centers for
cancer research and treatment, solid organ transplantation and arthritis.
During the past year, nearly $31 million in research grants and contracts
were awarded to UNMC scientists, and UNMCs funding from the National Institutes
of Health increased by 28 percent, going from $16.2 million to $20.7 million.
UNMC’s educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals
practicing in Nebraska than any other institution.