The UNMC Nebraska HEALING Project is launching a novel collaboration with Nebraska tribes and tribal communities to meet the unique health education needs of the Native population.
As each tribe or tribal community sets their health education priorities, UNMC will help them meet those needs with expertise in health science, health education creation and grants of up to $4,000.
Over the coming months, Siobhan Wescott, MD, associate professor and director of American Indian Health in the UNMC College of Public Health, and the Nebraska HEALING team will meet with tribes and tribal communities to launch the Tribal Emergent Health Education Collaboration. NE-HEALING is the Nebraska Health, Education, Advocacy and Leadership across Indigenous and Native Generations Project.
"This program is a way for the NE-HEALING program to come alongside tribal communities and support ongoing or new health education," Dr. Wescott said.
"The collaboration is a two-way street," she said. The tribes or tribal communities decide what is needed, and UNMC will provide expertise and funding.
One such example, she said, is a recent public health promotion of how wearing a mask can help to prevent the spread of disease such as COVID-19.
The tribes also are encouraged to reach out for health information support through Kiara Comfort, assistant professor and community outreach and health systems librarian at the McGoogan Health Science Library at UNMC.
Comfort provides research and education services to faculty, staff and students at UNMC and serves as liaison to Nebraska Medicine and Children’s Hospital & Medical Center.
"I coordinate outreach activities with our community members and community outreach partners. This includes partnering for health literacy instruction and connecting the community to reliable health information," Comfort said.
In addition, Comfort coordinates the UNMC Health Information Service, which is available at no charge for Nebraska residents and patients looking for health and wellness information and would be an invaluable resource to tribes, Dr. Wescott said.
Dear Dr. Wescott and Ms. Comfort,
As the Director of Public Health Nursing within the Winnebago Public Health Department, I would be extremely interested in meeting with you to promote this collaboration. My email is jane.langemeier@ihs. gov I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you. Jane Langemeier, Ph.D., R.N.
So great to hear this! Happy to support the efforts however I can.
Thank you Drs. Strong and Langemeier! Will reach out to Dr. Langemeier by email to start a discussion. So grateful for these collaborations, will really make a difference to tailor health education and health information services to the needs of Nebraska Tribes.