American Indian Healthcare Summit

In honor of Native American Heritage Month, Widoktadwen Center for Native Knowledge invites the Greater Berks County healthcare community to attend our first American Indian Healthcare Summit to learn more about urban Indigenous health, Indigenous data sovereignty, and how data decolonization works. The summit will take place on Monday, November 18, 2024 from 8:00-9:30 AM at the Berks County Community Foundation. Doors open at 7:30 AM for breakfast. There is no cost to attend this event, but please register to confirm your participation. https://forms.gle/QFsHYZaQof3XXcJZ9 Participants will learn about the local Urban Indian population in Berks County as the county with the highest population percentage of Native Americans in PA at 3.2% and explore possible reasons why local Native Americans continue to disappear in local data and representation. Data collected and distributed by local entities neglect to account for the majority of this American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) population. Through this summit, we aim to highlight this vast difference in data aggregation between an AI/AN epidemiology center authority and local county data regarding race and ethnicity. Current data collection methodology may be impeding our ability to care for the culturally specific health needs of this underrepresented population. We will include recommendations for remedies and partnerships, allowing plenty of time for Q&A and discussion. Local government officials, nonprofit / community leaders, healthcare professionals / students, educators, community health workers, and others are encouraged to attend. For more information, email amanda@widoktadwen.org. RSVPs are requested by November 14th. Outcomes of the summit include the following: ?Address health disparities: Identify and discuss strategies to address health disparities, such as higher rates of chronic diseases, substance abuse, and mental health issues. ?Enhance cultural competency: Discuss ways to improve cultural competency among healthcare providers. ?Promote indigenous knowledge and practices: Explore ways to incorporate traditional indigenous knowledge and practices into healthcare delivery. ?Strengthen community health programs: Discuss ways to strengthen community health programs, such as those focused on prevention, early intervention, and health promotion. ?Advocate for increased funding: Galvanize support for increased local and state funding for AI/AN healthcare programs. This inaugural American Indian Healthcare Summit is supported by a Decolonizing Data Grant through the Urban Indian Health Institute.