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Introduction
American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) comprise about 1.3% of the American population. Thus, they are considered an ethnic minority group of the United States. Unfortunately, their health and needs have been neglected in many ways for years by the American healthcare system. Statistics show the poor physical and mental condition of American Indian and Alaska Native people. The country with a great past is not supposed to ignore such a major issue, affecting millions of Native Americans throughout American territory. This paper aims to analyze the health status of American Indians/Alaska Natives, compare it with the national average, and propose a possible care plan to improve the current situation.
Main body
The healthcare status of AI/AN has been significantly low for years, especially compared with the rest of the US population. Nowadays, AI/AN have an almost five-year lower life expectancy rate than all other races in America (United States Department of Health, 2018). Accordingly, AI/AN also have lower incomes and higher poverty rates, which influences their nutrition issues and access to decent medical services. It is more difficult for young Native Americans to receive a higher education, which often leads to unemployment and even alcoholism. Moreover, the problems route lies even deeper, in the complicated past of the native tribes, when they were forced off their land and separated from their children due to the boarding school movement. The trauma of being deprived of their cultural heritage gave rise to many mental health conditions, affecting peoples quality of life for generations to come.
Having been stripped off of their lands also influenced how AI/AN changed their dietary habits to the worse. Instead of eating healthy meals rich in fruit and vegetables, they gradually turned to junk food and products high in fats and simple carbs, which led to Native Americans struggling with the white populations diseases. They include heart disease, diabetes, chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, as well as chronic lower respiratory diseases. Native Americans also often suffer from unintentional injuries, physical assaults, sexual abuse, suicide, and tuberculosis (Carlisle & Daily, 2018). Many of the cases could have been cured and even prevented provided timely and sufficient treatment. However, a large number of AI/AN lives in remote reservations or tribal communities too far from medical offices, let alone a common shortage of medical personnel in rural areas.
The latter has been in the focus of the attention of the Indian Heals Service (IHS), an agency that is a part of the US Department of Health and Human Services. IHS provides medical services for more than five hundred federally recognized tribes across the country (United States Department of Health, 2018). However, the IHS has been poorly funded for years now, and the medical services for AI/AN have increasingly shortened in number. Thus, it is far more difficult for Native Americans to receive needed treatment than it is for many other citizens of the United States. Accordingly, IHS is trying to offer other forms of help to improve the healthcare situation among AI/AN. They established the IHS Scholarship Program aimed to provide AI/AN with qualified medical personnel. The students who successfully graduated are sent to the medical facilities for AI/AN, where the personnel shortage is the most critical.
Such programs are crucial to establish a strong support system for AI/AN. To develop a solid care plan, there should be first created a medical environment that will efficiently operate for the benefit of Native Americans. More scholarship and loan repayment programs must be created; more investments in technology, facilities, and special training must be made. However, it is also essential to spread as much awareness as possible and draw the publics attention to the issue. The healthcare system works based on scientific data, which, if the evidence of necessary adjustments is presented, drives the much-needed actions. Providing more data on cancer and mortality rates among Native Americans will identify the factor of race in medical records; thus, health disparities become evident (Guadagnolo, Petereit, & Coleman, 2017). Proper documentation of race and ethnicity factors in health data will raise awareness of the problem and boost the decisionmaking in the field.
However, no care plan will work if it is not culturally relevant. American Indians/Alaskan Natives are a minority group that has been suppressed for many years. Many of them experience being ignored, stereotyped, and even disrespected by those outside their ethnic group. Thus, cultural differences and preferences of the group members must be taken seriously when practicing medical services. First of all, it is crucial to correctly diagnose the mental conditions and not overlook the past generational trauma. As it was mentioned before, Native Americans suffered through the loss of their land and separation from family. Especially traumatic was the experience of kids who were taken from their homes and placed into boarding schools where their cultural identity was almost entirely erased. People working with American Indians and Alaskan Native must be educated on these circumstances of their patients past, be tolerant, and respectful of their culture.
Conclusion
To conclude, more awareness should be brought to the issue of American Indians and Alaska Natives being mistreated by the healthcare system. The statistics are disappointing, and specific measures must be taken to help Native Americans improve their quality of life. Many diseases can be treated if decent medical aid is provided, alongside with enough qualified clinicians in even most remote territories, and gathering data on racial and ethnic factors in healthcare. All this must be in cooperation with specific knowledge of the culture and psychology of the patients. It is only possible to talk about a good care plan to help Native Americans get the medical aid they deserve.
References
Carlisle, L. L., & Daily, R. S. (2018). Suicide among American Indian, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander youth: An unrealized future. In A. J. Pumariega & N. Sharma (Eds.), Suicide among diverse youth (pp. 51-68). Cham, Germany: Springer.
Guadagnolo, B. A., Petereit, D. G., & Coleman, C. N. (2017). Cancer care access and outcomes for American Indian populations in the United States: Challenges and models for progress. Seminars in Radiation Oncology, 27(2), 143-149. Web.
United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health. (2018). Profile: American Indian/Alaska Native.
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