Public Health & Human Services

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Public Health & Human Services for the Cherokee Communities in Western North Carolina

Welcome! We invite you to learn about the variety of programs within Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Public Health & Human Services. Our programs are designed to improve individual – and community – quality of life.

Many of our services are only for enrolled members of the EBCI and other federally-recognized Indian tribes. Some programs operate within the child care and school systems and are open to all children. Others, such as Tsali Care Nursing Facility, are open to anyone in need.

In addition to treatment programs, we are very invested in educating our community in prevention of unnecessary illness and disability. We make sure that individuals are aware of all the services available to them. Our programs work hand-in-hand with one another, ensuring continuity of care for individuals.

We are very interested in your well-being. Please call on us for assistance. To report a public health emergency 24/7, call (828)-359-6180. To report a reportable/notifiable disease 24/7, call (828)-359-6241.

Vision: Seven generations of wellness with families strong in mind, body and spirit.

Mission: HONORING our Cherokee community by PROVIDING excellent care, PROMOTING health and SERVING families in a culturally respectful way.

To report a public health emergency 24/7 call (828)-359-6180.

To report a reportable/notifiable disease 24/7 call (828)-359-6241.

News & Upcoming Events

  • COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic (walk-in) – Cherokee Indian Hospital Hours:
    Monday-Friday 9:00am – 11:30am & 1:00pm – 4:00pm

 

2023 TRIBAL HEALTH SURVEY

We encourage all EBCI residents to participate in this survey. Survey data is confidential! Your feedback will help us to make our community a healthier place for everyone.
Scan the QR Code with your smart phone or tablet or use the survey link to take the survey.
When you complete the survey visit the PHHS Administration Building, tell the receptionist that you completed your Tribal Health Survey, and you would like to collect your tumbler! The PHHS Administration Building is located at 43 John Crowe Hill across from the former Cablevision building.
🏃‍♀️🏃Hurry, the deadline is December 31, 2023!🏃‍♀️🏃

Covid-19 Vaccine Distribution Plan

Anyone is eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccine through EBCI Mass Vaccination Team clinics. Follow EBCI Public Health & Human Services Division on Facebook for vaccine clinic information and events. https://www.facebook.com/EBCI.PHHS

Memorandums

Tribal community health assessment (THA)

Conducting a Tribal community health assessment is an important part of improving and promoting the health of the Cherokee community. The Tribal community health assessment is a key step in the ongoing Tribal health improvement process. View the 2019 Tribal Assessment here.

A Tribal health assessment (THA) explores how healthy the Tribal community is, how we know, what has changed, and what still needs to change to become the healthiest possible EBCI community.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Public Health and Human Services Division (PHHS) presents this 2018 Tribal Health Assessment (THA), the second community health assessment conducted by and for the EBCI community. The first THA was in 2013, and the THA is written and published every five years.

EBCI PHHS, Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority [CIHA]), Analenisgi Behavioral Health, and Cherokee Central Schools worked together to create the 2018 THA with help from the United South and Eastern Tribes Tribal Epidemiology Center and the WNC Health Network.

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From the data in the 2018 THA, 10 top health priorities emerged

These are:

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The THA is most useful when the community shares it widely

and has input into the discussion about the community’s health and actions to improve it. In 2019, PHHS will bring together the EBCI community to choose 2-3 of these top issues to work on together over the next 5 years in the Tribal Health Improvement Plan (THIP). The first round of the EBCI THIP was in 2015-17. See what the 2015-17 THIP achieved: THIP SUMMARY REPORT

If you are interested in working with PHHS to improve the EBCI community’s health, contact thip@nc-cherokee.com!

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To access the 2013 Tribal Health Assessment

Health Resource Inventory (HRI), which lists all health and health related services on and off the Boundary click here. For a summary, click here. (power point). For the survey brochure, click here. (pdf)
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Compliance Support Line

If you have a complaint or just a concern regarding regulations being followed by any Public Health and Human Services employee or program and are unsure if it should be reported, remember the following: When in doubt …report it out. How to report
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Pursuant to Cherokee Code (C.C.) section 150-5

The following Cherokee Administrative Rules are being published to inform the public of its adoption and implementation as an emergency rule in order to preserve the public health, safety and general welfare of the Tribe. View Administrative Rules

Read The Report Of The 2015-17 Tribal Health Improvement Process

In 2015, PHHS led the first community-wide Tribal Health Improvement Process/Plan (THIP) to act on the data in the 2013 Tribal Health Assessment. The THIP included a wide variety of committed and hard-working community members, which took place 2015-17. To learn about the process and read the 2015-17 THIP, click here. To read the report of the results of the 2015-17 THIP now in the 2015-17 Tribal Health Improvement Plan Summary Report, click here.

To summarize, the THIP identified three major health priorities:

  • Depression
  • Substance Abuse
  • Diabetes

Three THIP Teams addressed goals, objectives, and activities for each priority issue during the 3-year process. In summary, improvements in the conditions identified in the THIP included:

Depression:

  • Increased screening, referral, and treatment of depression at CIHA and Analenisgi.
  • Integration of Behavioral Health staff into primary care clinics at CIHA to emphasize that emotional and physical factors are both critical to good health.
  • Improved communication and coordination between PHHS, CIHA, Analenisgi, and CCS.
  • The establishment of Family Safety and Family Support in PHHS, which has brought adult and child protective services, social work services, and foster care under Tribal control, and has aligned these services with support for families such as food distribution, emergency pantry, burial funding support, and energy support.
  • Establishment of the Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey (YRRS) every two years at CCS; questions on depression and resilience will assist CCS to identify and refer students with depression issues.
  • Annual Elders’ Medicine Walks.
  • Elders-Clinicians Gatherings (Cherokee Hospital clinicians, Tribal elders, and other participants talked about community experiences with the healthcare system and traditional Cherokee views of health).
  • Cherokee Choices Summer Camp surveys to screen for depression and related issues.
  • Increased attendance at Cherokee Choices Annual Stress and Wellness Retreat with instruction in stress management and self-care.

Substance Use:

  • Convening the “Cultural Identity Task Force” led to the resumption of Elders-Clinicians Gatherings to enable Tribal elders to communicate directly with clinicians in a group setting and discuss health issues.
  • The work of the Substance Abuse Team lent support and momentum to the establishment of Kanvwotiyi, “the place where one is healed,” EBCI’s residential treatment center in Snowbird.
  • Substance abuse was added to CIHA clinic screening to help identify clients with substance abuse issues and connect them with services.
  • Cherokee Central Schools implemented or increased substance abuse prevention programming.

Diabetes:

  • The majority of persons with Type 2 diabetes enrolled in the Diabetes Education Empowerment Program (DEEP) completed the program.
  • The great majority of middle and high school students at CCS get the recommended level of physical activity.
  • Cherokee Choices Summer Camp identified children at risk of Type 2 diabetes, taught them healthy activities and nutrition, and provided access to behavioral health services.
  • Cherokee Choices Stress and Healing Arts Retreats provided self-care and healthy behavior education and experiences.
  • If you are interested in working with PHHS to improve the EBCI community’s health in the 2019-2024 THIP, contact thip@nc-cherokee.com!

Disclaimer

EBCI Public Health and Human Services (PHHS) use a variety of social media options to communicate and interact with the public. Those sites and applications include popular social networking and media sites, such as Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. These social networking and media sites are operated by a third party, therefore your activity on these third party sites is governed by the security, privacy policy, and user agreements of those sites, which we have linked to below.
You should review the third-party security, privacy policies, and user agreements before using the sites and ensure that you understand how your information may be used. If you have an account with a third-party Web site, and choose to follow, like, friend, or comment certain information associated with your account may be made available to PHHS based on the privacy policy of the third-party Web site and your privacy settings within that third-party Web site. Therefore, you should also adjust privacy settings on your account to match your preferences.
It is the policy of PHHS that any comments that contain spam or are improper, inflammatory, off-topic or offensive shall be removed. Repeat offenders may be subject to banning.

EBCI PHHS strives to make the information contained on these third party sites as timely and accurate as possible, PHHS makes no claim, promise, or guarantee about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents on these third party sites, and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of these sites. Items posted on these third party sites do not necessarily reflect the views or act as endorsements by EBCI PHHS.