A Special Invitation

Dear Tribal Leaders and Tribal Council Members,

This conference is for you. We know that preserving your culture and history is important to you and to the future of your Tribe. We know that you want your health care providers to understand your Tribal members. Yet, only about 40 percent of Indian health programs around the country are teaching their health care providers about their history and culture.

Many Indian health programs say that they have not been able to provide training about the cultural and history of the people they serve because they do not have enough staff, enough time, enough money, or enough know how. This conference will tell you how other Indian health programs have overcome these obstacles to create successful programs.

It is your leadership that can make a difference. When you leave this one-day conference, you will have:

• Ideas and inspiration
• A network of resources to help you, including Tribes, Tribal organizations, urban Indian clinics, and philanthropic foundations
• A book with detailed descriptions of the case studies
• A DVD that you can share with others to visualize the programs, places and people that are highlighted at this conference

If you already have a program to teach your health care providers about your culture and history, you may find ideas for building that program to become even more effective.

I want to personally invite you to join us in Los Angeles on July 26 for this exciting conference, Creating Space for Culture and History in Indian Health Care. If you have any questions, feel free to call me at 918-456-6094.

Sincerely yours,

Pamela E. Iron, Executive Director
NIWHRC TOPICS Project Leader