Old Ways, New Ways

In tiny communities on the Navajo reservation like Chilchinbeto, Arizona., the closest health care facility or grocery store might require a 25-mile journey, partially on rugged dirt roads.  That's why throughout the reservation are Community Health Representative Program workers like Katie Tree, who makes regular home visits to at-risk individuals, such as the elderly, new mothers or those coping with chronic illness.  She checks their vital signs, refers them to local public health nurses who visit the reservation periodically, and acts as a cultural broker.

Katie teaches non-Navajo healthcare providers Navajo customs, such as greeting people with a handshake, walking counterclockwise in a hogan and the role of medicine men.  "I tell them many Navajos turn to traditional healers in much the same way they might see a cardiologist for heart problems or a dentist for a tooth ache."