Grantee Research Project Results
2011 Progress Report: Tribal Environmental Public Health Indicators
EPA Grant Number: R834791Title: Tribal Environmental Public Health Indicators
Investigators: Donatuto, Jamie
Current Investigators: Donatuto, Jamie , Campbell, Larry
Institution: Swinomish Indian Tribal Community
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2013 (Extended to June 30, 2014)
Project Period Covered by this Report: July 1, 2010 through June 30,2011
Project Amount: $235,517
RFA: Exploring Linkages Between Health Outcomes and Environmental Hazards, Exposures, and Interventions for Public Health Tracking and Risk Management (2009) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Human Health
Objective:
There are three project objectives: (1) to establish a set of environmental public health indicators for Coast Salish communities in the Puget Sound region that reflect the communities’ meanings and prioritizations of health; (2) to test the tribal-specific indicator set by employing it to assess the health status of the tribal communities; and (3) to evaluate the efficacy of the tribal-specific indicator set by reviewing the health status results with tribes. The goals of the project have not changed from the original application.
Progress Summary:
During the first year of the project (7/01/11-6/30/2012), the first objective has been accomplished (see the “Preliminary Data/ Results” section and Table 1); project personnel began preparations to realize the second and third objectives.
The tribal representatives and project personnel have branded the indicator set with a simple yet descriptive name in order to specifically refer to and identify the indicators in future use and publications: Indigenous Health Indicators (IHIs). It was agreed that the name Indigenous Health Indicators effectively described the tribal environmental public health indicators, yet substantially shortened the name and also broadened the potential application of the indicators to indigenous groups outside of the United States who refers to themselves with other monikers (e.g., First Nations, Metis, Inuit).
The website for the project has been wire-framed with content, placement, number of pages and links . The site will go live in the second year of the project.
The tribal representatives and project personnel have worked together in devising a method to test the indicator set (Objective 2: to test the tribal-specific indicator set by employing it to assess the health status of the tribal communities). Testing the indicators will occur as follows. Each tribal community involved in the project will gather a small advisory group composed of members of their community for a 1-day session. The group first will establish a baseline of current environmental public health in the community using the six indicators by answering a series of ranking questions using the IHIs. Each component and each indicator will be ranked on a descriptive scale (e.g., very bad to very good). Indicators then will be compared to each other. Next, the group will be presented with two hypothetical scenarios of pollution in the local area and will be asked to first rank and then weight those indicators that will be most important to address in light of the contamination. In addition, each Powerpoint presentation will be altered to fit the individual needs of each community where the groups will be held).
The small advisory group will have approximately 12-20 participants of varying ages, professions and ways of life within the community. Invitations to the advisory group will be distributed door-to-door and via telephone and email throughout the tribal community. Invites also may be posted in the tribal offices and /or through the tribal newsletter.
Answers to the questions will be tallied immediately via the use of a “clicker” system wherein participants will have small, handheld devises with numbered and lettered buttons. When a button is pushed in response to a question, the answer is recorded immediately via wireless software; simple statistics allow the answers to be collated and visually depicted in less than 1 minute into the PowerPoint presentation while allowing individual responses to remain anonymous (e.g., bar graph, by percentage). The clicker system will be helpful for two main reasons: 1) it allows quick collation of the results without interrupting the flow of the group; and, 2) the tallied results will likely spark additional discussions regarding the questions and provide insight to the IHIs that may not otherwise be elucidated.
An institutional review board review has been submitted for approval for the small advisory groups.
The first objective (to establish a set of environmental public health indicators for Coast Salish communities in the Puget Sound region that reflect the communities’ meanings and prioritizations of health) was achieved through the project partnership established with other Coast Salish Tribes—the Lower Elwha Klallam, the Port Gamble S’Klallam, and the Suquamish. Six key health indicators, each with three components, were established. The six indicators (with the three components of each in parentheses) are: Resources Security (abundance, access, and sharing); Community Connection (cooperation, participation/roles, and familiarity); Ceremonial Use (gatherings/ceremonies, giving thanks, and feeding the Spirit); Education (Elders, youth, and the Teachings); Self Determination (healing economic development, and restoration); and Well-being (connection to Nature, confidence, and resilience). See Table 1 for explanations of the meanings of the indicators and their respective components.
Health indicator
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Health indictor components descriptions
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Community Connection
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Cooperation the community depends on and values each other
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Participation/ Roles (harvest, prepare, preserve food) each member has a role that is respected.
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Familiarity source of natural resources is known and trusted; therefore, it is assumed that they are safe
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Resources Security
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Abundancenatural resources are abundant and the stocks are healthy
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Access--all resource use areas (i.e., Usual and Accustomed areas in WA) are allowed to be harvested
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Sharing ensuring that everyone in the community receives traditional foods and other natural resources such as plant medicines, esp. Elders
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Ceremonial Use
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Gatherings & ceremonies community assemblies able to follow appropriate customs (e.g., can obtain specific natural resources if needed such as cedar, certain seafoods, etc.)
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Giving thanks ability to enact proper rituals, prayers and thoughtful intentions
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Feed the Spirit able to consume foods and medicines in order to satisfy Spirits hunger
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Education
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The Teachings knowledge, values and beliefs
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Elders the knowledge keepers who pass on the knowledge.
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Youth the future; they receive and respect the knowledge.
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Self Determination
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Healing the availability of and access to healing opportunities such as traditional medicines, language programs and other culturally integral community health
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Development the ability for a community to determine and enact their own, chosen community and economic enrichment activities in their homelands
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Restoration the ability for a community to determine and enact their own, chosen environmental or habitat restoration programs
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Well-being
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Connection to Nature-- engaging in traditional resource-based activities and outdoor physical activity; continued reminder/ connection to ancestors and homeland
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Confidence-- confidence in quality of information about resource safety and that uncertainties and unknowns are minimal (i.e., with analyses, standards/ thresholds, chemical potency/ effects, and/ or assessment methods)
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Resilience--Culture isnt stagnant, it adapts (e.g., people hunt with guns and use motorboats today but that doesnt discount the significance of harvesting). Ability to move within homeland to voluntarily adapt to changes, temporal or permanent.
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Future Activities:
During the first year of the project, project personnel and the tribal representatives accomplished Objective 1 of the project, as described in the section above. The project is on track to accomplish Objectives 2 and 3 in the second year of the project. The method for accomplishing Objective 2 is outlined above. After each small advisory group is held, the results will be presented to that community’s tribal council for review (Objective 3), and approval for public release.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 3 publications for this projectProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.