Native Voice One Podcast

New Mexico U.S. Senator unveils legislation to prohibit export of Native American sacred items

Alaska tribes can move forward with petitions to federal government to take land into trust

https://www.nv1.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/nnn070616.mp3

Northern Gateway Pipeline project's approval revoked for not consulting with First Nations

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes want to manage Montana's National Bison Range

Nearly 30 percent of the recently announced Volkswagen 15 billion dollar settlement will go to tribes

https://www.nv1.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/nnn070516.mp3

Ontario First Nation calls on governments in Canada to deal with decades-old mercury contamination

Senator Bernie Sanders courts voters at National Congress of American Indians mid-year conference

Jewell discusses Obama administration transition and White House Native American affairs council

https://www.nv1.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/nnn070116.mp3

Official announces rule change to allow Native Americans to gather plants on federal land

Confederated Salish and Kootenai leader urges U.S. Senators to approve water compact

Local leader of Navajo community of Pinon says police substation needed to address crime

https://www.nv1.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/nnn063016.mp3

Tribal leaders discuss sovereignty and the Native vote at national gathering in Spokane

Northern Arapaho officials define their own health care after taking over federal clinic

Minnesota governor announces appointment of woman with Ojibwe heritage to state's Supreme Court

https://www.nv1.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/nnn062916.mp3

Washington tribe bans fireworks after last year’s bad fire season in the state

Navajo Nation and Arizona agree to work together to assist Navajo veterans

Navajo man drops out of the race for Arizona's First Congressional District

IHS announces grants of more than seven million dollars for urban health

https://www.nv1.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/nnn062816.mp3

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signs into law a bill that makes his the fourth state in the nation to allow dental therapists to provide dental care. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium began dental health therapy in 2004. (Photo from Vermont Public Interest Research Group or VPIRG.)

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once called states “the laboratories of democracy.” The idea was that experiments in governing would take place far from Washington and eventually become national policy. Well, it that’s true, then tribes, and intertribal organizations, might be democracy’s first test labs.

This is Trahant Reports.

If you are looking for innovation, efficiency, and ideas that should be borrowed by state governments, then explore some of the successes found in the Indian health system. Last week Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin signed into law a bill that licenses dental therapy in Vermont. Therapists are midlevel providers who provide dental procedures such as fillings and simple extractions. Great idea. One that began more than a decade ago when the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium trained midlevel oral health providers because too few dentists were practicing in remote Alaska Native villages. Almost immediately this was an “aha!” moment as other communities saw this as a smart way to expand dental access. Dental therapy students were hired and trained right out of high school and then were put right to work. But the innovation was followed by a fight. The American Dental Association sued trying to stop this program, saying that the midlevel providers were practicing dentistry without a license. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium fought back and won, using the Indian Self-Determination Act and the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to trump the state’s licensing regulations. The data today is clear. The program has been spectacularly successful providing routine dental care to some 40,000 patients every year. Across the country, both in Indian Country, and now in states, the idea of a midlevel dental practice is expanding. Last summer at the National Congress of American Indians, Brian Cladosby, Chairman of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, and president of NCAI, said the tribe would expand dental health therapy using its own sovereign regulatory structure. In recent months tribes in Oregon began their own pilot program to train dental therapists. This innovation is the future. It expands dental care as well as opportunity for young people who want a career in dental health. It’s important to tell the story and its roots with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. I have some news about Trahant Reports today. Nearly two years ago we began this commentary on Native Voice One. We’re now beginning an expansion and as part of that we have a new underwriter. I’m pleased to say Trahant Reports will be brought to you by Kauffman & Associates, Inc., a Native American owned, woman-owned small business that has delivered innovative solutions for government and commercial clients since 1990. KAI's expertise spans diverse specialty areas, including public health, education, and economic development.

Thank you.

I am Mark Trahant

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Some Oklahoma tribes continue fight with state over lake

Traveling bank serves people on the Pine Ridge reservation

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New Canadian ads include dark history of Indian residential schools

Late-Choctaw elder's work included efforts to save Choctaw language

Tribes claim tribal sovereignty win in U.S. Supreme Court decision

https://www.nv1.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/nnn062416.mp3

Ojibway military veteran honored on National Aboriginal Day in Canada

Lakota language teachers hope program will create lifelong Lakota speakers

Navajo Nation and Arizona Department of Veterans Services to sign MOU

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