Indian Health Care Providers And Human Services (IHS)

IHS is a very complex organization that serves the American Indian and Alaskan Native population. Effective health services for American Indians and Alaskan Natives had to integrate the philosophies of the tribes with those of the medical community. Because not all tribes signed treaties with the United States some people with Indian heritage were not eligible to participate with the federal government programs. Eligible people with Indian heritage were provided various services throughout the IHS programs; however, some IHS locations did not have the necessary equipment or facilities to provide comprehensive services.

Though American Indians are enjoying an independent public health system with above $3 billion funds provided by Congress annually for delivering healthcare services to them, still figure and facts on health status of American Indians reveal that they are facing many difficulties and have to suffer from diverse type of illness and disease at a misappropriate level. Since long it was identified by medical communities that there are wide spread diseases diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis, suicide, unintentional injuries, and other health conditions among American Indian and they are dying of these diseases at shocking rates (American Heart Association [AHA], 2010). Through this essay I want to discuss the healthcare status of American Indians in the perspective of their culture as how it impacted and lead to develop mistrust between amongst the medical community and American Indians.

With regards to this, healthcare workers also identified a number of emerging positive attitudes across Indian country. Tribes of Native American communities, for example, report that they are taking steps themselves to eliminate abuse. The feeling is growing that the best--perhaps only way--to overcome Indian alcohol and substance abuse

Alcoholism is a prevalent social epidemic for Native Americans, especially among youth between the ages of 13 to 18 that reside on the reservations. Alcoholism and chronic substance abuse among Native America youth is increasing at a rapid rate in the past few years. Alcoholism is risk of substance abuse or dependence is consistently elevated in adolescents who had been victims of assault or who had witnessed violence (Kilpatrick, Acierno, Saunders, Resnick, Best, & Schnurr, 2000). Inherent risks associated with substance abuse range from minor poor judgement errors to life-threating events, for example dose overdose or acute drug hypersensitivity (Beauvais, 1992). Studies have not yet found a clear biological mechanism that would explain alcoholism and excessive drinking, but a number of them have suggested a possibility of some kind of predisposition to the condition (Clinard & Meier, 2015). This paper presents an analysis of family structure, alcoholism diagnosis criteria, and psychological effects associated with chronic alcohol abuse among Native American youth.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the health status of the American Indian/ Alaskan Native (AI/AN). A comparison and contrast of AI/ANs with the national average regarding the health status such as heart disease and strokes will be presented. Multifactorial barriers limiting health, and the overall factors affecting health within this population are identified. Current health status will be presented including health promotion and disparities among this US population. Primary, secondary, and tertiary health promotions will be discussed along with one approach to promoting health offered.

The services includes; health screening, education and prevention programs for diabetes, obesity and HIV, screening and access to child immunization and shots for adult clients. This service is extremely important because so many people are lacking health care, especially if they come from a small reservation they might lack the capacity to for example find a disease like cancer, in one of their patients. They provide access to primary care by making contracts with different community clinics and medical providers for medical, dental and specialty care. They also provide culturally sensitive services because there are sometimes cultural issues between the doctor, and the patient due to different belief systems. The clinic provides services like physicals, management of medicine, STD/STI screening, pap smears, pregnancy testing breast exams, and contraceptives. It is important to note, that the also have health services for seniors/elders, nutrition and weight loss. The only requirement is the patient has to be a member of a federally recognized tribe or one that is state recognized to receive health education/service programs. The primary care clinic varies from clinic to clinic and should be consulted before

Health promotion can be looked out differently within each ethnic group and can most definitely influence how one manages his/her own health. Within the AI/AN population, a lot of home remedies passed down from generation to generation exist, so seeking out traditional medicine isn’t really a main source of healing. The American Indian/Alaska Native resident may have a holistic view in which people community, nature and spirituality are interconnected and interrelated. This perspective views physical, spiritual, mental and emotional health in unity, instead of indiscrete categories. Sickness may be viewed as a result of disharmony between the

Health care in the United States is driven by a patchwork of services and financing. Americans access health care services in a variety of ways — from private physicians’ offices, to public hospitals, to safety-net providers. This diverse network of health care providers is supported by an equally diverse set of funding streams. The United States spends almost twice as much on health care as any other country, topping $2 trillion each year. (WHO.INT 2000) However, even with overall spending amounting to more than $7,400 per person, millions of individuals cannot access the health care services they need.(Foundation 2009) So when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a the Affordable Care Act or ACA) was passed in the summer

The reading material from my textbook aligns with the issues presented in the video on Mental Health of Native Americans. The video talks about reconnecting adults and youths back into their culture. One issue is that American Indians have a low success rate academically. American Indian children often distrust European American which makes it difficult for cross cultural counseling. According to Baruth & Manning (2012), American Indian adolescents will end up being counseled by European American counselors because there are few American Indian counselors. The video states that there is high use of substance abuse, suicide, and dropout rates for American Indians. The textbook list suicide, alcohol abuse and other substance abuse, and high school and college drop-out rates as being potential problems American Indian adolescents may experience

All hospitals on Native American reservations are run by the Indian Health Services or IHS for short. The IHS is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The responsibility of the department is to provide “federal health services to American

Dental Services- AWAHS has specific dental facilities with an onsite dental surgery, dentist and dental team. They cover all aspects of dental care e.g. dentures, crowns and oral surgeries. They provide these services with the aim of providing better oral health care and education to the Indigenous community. They also understand the anxiety that may

The Indian Health Service (IHS) is a healthcare program within the Department of Health and Human Services. (Agency Overview n.d.) It provides federal health services to eligible American Indians and Alaska Natives at IHS facilities. (Agency Overview n.d.) Services that IHS provide include medical, dental and vision, ancillary services, such as laboratory and pharmacy, specialty care which include services provided by the physician or specialist. (Agency Overview n.d.) The factors that affect the type of health care depend on the community needs, level of funds and whether treatment is medically necessary (Marx n.d.) American Indians and Alaska Natives can receive direct care at hospitals, health centers and they may be federally or

The Indian Health Service (IHS) is an operating division (OPDIV) within the U.S department of health and human services (HHS). IHS is responsible for providing medical and public health services to members of federally recognized Tribes and Alaska Natives. IHS is the principal federal health care provider and health advocate for American Indian and Alaskan Natives (AI/AN) people. Its goal is to raise the health status of AI/AN peoples and their communities by providing a comprehensive health service delivery system to members of 566 federally recognized Tribes located across 36 U.S. States. The IHS is an Agency within and Operating Division of Department of Health and Human Services, and is responsible for providing federal health services

In society, dentistry and oral hygiene has been overlooked and is viewed as a luxury. Dentistry plays a large role in American culture and has evolved extensively since it has begun. Today, the world of dentistry there have been multiple innovations with advancements in diversity, inventions, dental health and diseases. The ADA defines dentistry as “the evaluation,diagnosis, prevention and/or treatment (nonsurgical, surgical or related procedures) of disease, disorders and/or conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and/or the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body” (“ADA Definition of Dentistry”)

its health care system; this has only resulted in extremely expensive specialized care that is