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!