Suquamish Museum newest of many impressive tribal cultural displays in Washington, Oregon

By Terry Richard, The Oregonian

Six life-size wood figures shouldering a 300-year-old canoe command the most attention among  the exhibits at the new Suquamish Museum and Cultural Center on the west shore of Puget Sound.

Carved from cedar, the figures morph from a pair of sea otters in the rear to tribal ancestors in the middle and to modern people up front. The sculpture symbolizes the carrying of the tribe’s canoe culture forward through time.

The second new tribal museum in Washington to open in two years, the $7.5 million Suquamish Museum is on the Port Madison Indian Reservation near Poulsbo on the Kitsap Peninsula. Its opening last September followed the 2011 opening of the Tulalip Tribe’s Hibulb Cultural Center near Marysville.

The Northwest tribal museums, which include showcase displays in Oregon near Pendleton and at Warm Springs, offer travelers the chance to connect with the rich native culture that predated exploration and settlement by European Americans.

The Suquamish Museum is a short walk from the gravesite of Chief Sealth, the tribal elder who cooperated with Americans when they settled Puget Sound in the 1850s. Seattle is named for the Suquamish chief.

The museum’s small but impressive exhibits feature woodworking, baskets and beadwork. The 9,000-square-foot building, in the style of a traditional longhouse, has a performance space, museum store, plus an art gallery that features the work of 20 tribal artists, including intricate masks in the coastal Salish style.The surrounding grounds are landscaped with native plants. Nearby houses will be removed when leases expire to further enhance the tribe’s cultural district as a learning center. The tribe’s Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort is one mile south.

The House of Awakened Culture, an indoor tribal event center, is just north of the museum on the waterfront. Seattle’s highest buildings are in view across the Salish Sea, the name bestowed recently on all the inland waters of Washington and lower British Columbia.

The new museum is three times the size of the tribe’s previous cultural display.

The Suquamish Museum address is 6861 N.E. South St., on the east side of S.R. 307 just north of its intersection with S.R. 305 (the highway with the only bridge to Bainbridge Island). The museum is open daily (except some holidays) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; 360-394-8499,  suquamishmuseum.org.

TR.MuseumatWarmSprings2_0009.JPG
A traditional salmon bake outside the Museum at Warm Springs. Terry Richard/The Oregonian

Other tribal museums in Oregon and Washington Warm Springs: The Museum at Warm Springs features the Wasco, Walla Walla and Paiute tribes of central and eastern Oregon and the Columbia River Gorge. The 25,000-square-foot building opened in 1993. It is located along U.S. 26 in Warm Springs, between Mount Hood and central Oregon, with the relocated Indian Head Casino across the highway; 541-553-3331,  museumatwarmsprings.org.

Umatilla: Tamástslikt Cultural Institute tells the story of the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla tribes of northeast Oregon and southeast Washington in a 45,000-square-foot building that opened in 1998. It also has an outdoor living-history exhibit during summer. The museum is near Wildhorse Resort and Casino, just east of Pendleton; 541-966-9748,  tcimuseum.com.

Makah: Most artifacts in the Makah Museum at Neah Bay, Wash., come from a nearby archaeological dig on the Olympic Peninsula coast at Ozette. The 24,000-square-foot Makah Cultural and Research Center was built as the repository and display site for the 11-year dig, from 1970 to 1981, which uncovered 55,000 artifacts from a 500-year-old village preserved by a massive mudslide; 360-645-2711, makah.com.

Squaxin Island: The 15,000-square-foot Squaxin Island Museum opened in 2002 with an exhibit of the Salish tribes of southern Puget Sound, the “people of the water.” The museum is just off U.S. 101 near Shelton, Wash.; 360-432-3839, squaxinislandmuseum.org.

Tulalip: The 23,000-square-foot Hibulb Cultural Center, which opened in 2011, tells the story of the Snohomish, Snoqualmie and Skykomish tribes of the northern Puget Sound area. Its location is Tulalip, Wash., not far off Interstate 5; 360-716-2600, hibulbculturalcenter.org.

Yakama: The Yakama Nation Museum opened in 1980 with a 12,000-square-foot exhibit hall that tells the story of central Washington tribes, as well as famous chiefs from other tribes. The museum is along U.S. 97 at Toppenish, Wash.; 509-865-2800,  yakamamuseum.com.

 

Local food code goes low-cal as state’s beefs up, May 1

Source: Snohomish County Health District
SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash.The local food regulations in Snohomish County have changed to conform to the newly revised state food laws. Three years of state-level meetings culminated in state-approved revisions to the food regulation, WAC 246-215, effective May 1. The Snohomish County Health Board passed a resolution to adopt the changes in the county at its monthly meeting, April 9.
 
The Snohomish Health District, which inspects about 3,250 food establishments in the county, hosted a training update to food service regulators, and posted the revised code and a summary of its changes to its website.
 
The new rules absorbed a good deal of the formerly more stringent local code, which is now trimmed to three areas: enforcement procedures; food service manager training and certification; and recertification training of restaurant managers and operators. 
 
The menu of statewide changes includes hot holding temperatures of 135°F or hotter. Cut leafy greens and cut tomatoes were redefined to be potentially hazardous foods and will be required to be kept at 41°F or below.
 
Other revisions include updated requirements for tracking and documentation of wild mushroom harvesting, more flexible guidelines for preschools, and deletion of all but dogs and miniature horses as service animals.
 
Local health jurisdictions and the food service industry were represented in the three years of deliberations. The Health District also facilitates a 20-member Food Advisory Council of local food establishment owners and operators, who have followed every step of the state revision process.
 
Established in 1959, the Snohomish Health District works for a safer and healthier Snohomish County through disease prevention, health promotion, and protection from environmental threats. Find more information about the Health Board and the Health District at http://www.snohd.org

NRCS helps landowners manage for soil health, buffer drought effects

 Soil health is always important, but extreme weather in the last few years has shown landowners just how important managing for it really is.
Soil health is always important, but extreme weather in the last few years has shown landowners just how important managing for it really is.

Source: USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service

Soil health is always important, but extreme weather in the last few years has shown landowners just how important managing for it really is.

“The vital part of soil is topsoil, which unfortunately is also the part most susceptible to the effects of weather. That’s what makes protecting it so crucial,” said Doug Miller, NRSC Minnesota soil health coordinator.

The top two components of topsoil are clay content and soil organic matter which hold nutrients and water for plant use and growth.

“The amount of clay content is determined by glacier content left behind and cannot be changed, but the percent of organic matter in topsoil can be increased,” Miller said.

One percent of organic matter in the top six inches of soil can hold about 27,000 gallons of water per acre. Increasing organic matter increases the holding capacity for water making your land more resilient to extreme weather.

Even with last year’s drought, landowners benefitted from improved soil health.

“There were two farms separated by a road that had the same soils, same crops and same precipitation. While one farm thrived through extreme weather, the other one lost corn plants, soil and water. The variable here was the management of the land,” said Miller.

Landowners are the managers of soil, so it’s important to use practices that help protect and improve your soil, he added.

NRCS identified four principles that help improve soil health.

  • Keep soil covered as much as possible.
  • Use plant diversity to increase diversity in the soil.
  • Keep living roots in the soil as long as possible.
  • Disturb the soil as little as possible.

Managing for soil health can help increase productivity and profits, decrease inputs and improve sustainability for farms and ranches.

“We need soil to be productive not just this year, but five years from now, 20 years from now, 60 years from now, and that starts with soil health,” Miller said.

NRCS’ soil health webpage provides in-depth knowledge and experiences from landowners across the nation.  Visit your local NRCS office or visit the website (http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/) to see how soil health is making a difference.

 

IHS signs pact for sanitation development in tribal communities

Source: Indian Health Services

The Indian Health Service and several other federal agencies plan to improve interagency coordination in providing safe drinking water and basic sanitation to tribal communities. The IHS, which is in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Agriculture.

In 2007, these agencies and tribal representatives assembled an infrastructure task force to improve access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation in Indian Country. The memorandum of understanding formalizes federal cooperation toward the task force’s goal of reducing the number of tribal homes lacking access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 50 percent by 2015.

The agreement will help to coordinate available funding, programs, and
expertise for access to basic sanitation as federal officials work with tribal officials to develop successful sanitation programs in Indian Country.

Since 2007, substantial progress has been made to improve access; for instance, the number of American Indian and Alaska Native homes lacking safe drinking water has been reduced from 12 percent in 2007 to 7.5 percent in 2013.

The IHS provides essential sanitation facilities, including water supply and sewage disposal systems, to American Indian and Alaska Native homes and communities. Safe sanitation facilities improve public health in many ways, including by lowering the incidences of gastrointestinal disease and infant mortality.

The IHS works in partnership with tribal communities to provide a comprehensive health service system for approximately 2.1 million American Indian and Alaska Natives who are members of 566 federally recognized tribes.

EMPOWER emergency preparedness fair, April 20

Educational event for the general public, communities of color, vulnerable populations

& emergency responders features speakers, food, displays

Source: Snohomish County health District
SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. – Culture, ability, and language can make a huge difference in preparing for and responding to emergencies. The EMPOWER emergency preparedness fair will break down the barriers through a day of presentations, information sharing, resource tables, and demonstrations, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sat., April 20 at Everett Station, 3201 Smith Ave., Everett.
 
The event is free and open to the public, and includes complimentary continental breakfast and lunch. Walk-ins are welcome or you can register at Brown Paper Tickets.
 
The day will have two educational tracks: One for community residents to learn more about being prepared for emergencies, and another for emergency responders to learn ways to respond more effectively to a diverse community.
 
“This fair is for people who want to learn more about getting prepared for earthquakes, storms, and other disasters,” said Therese Quinn, event organizer and Medical Reserve Corps coordinator. “It is also for emergency responders and planners who want to learn more about working with vulnerable populations.”
 
Morning presentations follow a welcome by Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick.
 
The emergency responder track will hear a hands-on diversity panel discuss “What you need to know when you respond in my community.” Panelists will include individuals from the Iraqi and Latino communities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. The panel discussion will be followed by speaker Conrad Kuehn from the Northwest ADA Center, presenting “Disability Language and Etiquette.”
 
The community education track includes a presentation on how to prepare for an emergency and make an emergency kit. Following the kit demonstration, a panel will discuss the mission of emergency responders as public safety — and not immigration enforcement. Panelists include Dave Alcorta, Red Cross; Sgt. Manny Garcia, Everett Police Department; and John Pennington, Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management.
 
The lunchtime keynote speaker will be National Fire Academy Instructor Leslie Olson, who will talk about the importance of cross-cultural communication.
 
All presentations and the lunch keynote speech will be interpreted into Spanish and translated by Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) for the deaf and hard of hearing. 
 
The event is the result of community partnership among Snohomish Health District, Tulalip Tribes, Fire District 1, Starbucks, Communities of Color Coalition, Snohomish County Emergency Management, Medical Reserve Corps, Puget Sound Energy, City of Everett, and South Everett Neighborhood Center.
 
Established in 1959, the Snohomish Health District works for a safer and healthier Snohomish County through disease prevention, health promotion, and protection from environmental threats. Find more information about the Health Board and the Health District at http://www.snohd.org.

Neighbors Dispute Police Account of Shooting of Native Man in Seattle

By Renee Roman Nose, Indian Country Today Media Network

Courtney Lewis lives in what had been until last month a pretty quiet Seattle neighborhood. Lewis’s home is a friendly place, where children in the neighborhood regularly gather to play. She has always been close to Henry Northwind, the Cree man who lives next door with his son, Jack. Over the three years they have lived there, Henry’s son, Jack Keewatinawin, became good friends with her son, Tino Lewis-Sosa. They often played video games together, or tossed a football around in the yard. Jack, who turned 21 in early February, had mental issues, but no one in the neighborhood had ever had a problem with him. Neighbors say the poor boy was “always scared” of the demons and ghosts that haunted him, but was never a threat to his friends and neighbors.

A little before 8 p.m. on the evening of February 26, just as darkness fell, Seattle police answered a report of domestic disturbance by Keewatinawin’s two older brothers, Hawk Firstrider and Montano Northwind. On the recording of that 911 call, one of them says, “My dad is being killed right now, please! My brother’s schizophrenic and he’s flipping out and he’s got a knife to him!”

Jack Keewatinawin
Jack Keewatinawin

Officers on the scene confronted Keewatinawin outside his father’s house, on his front lawn; they shot him with Tasers twice in an attempt to subdue him, but he pulled the two probes out of his chest and ran into the front yard of the duplex next door, where the Brubaker family lives. Officers chased him across the shared lawn of the two duplexes, and in a dimly lit area, the police say, one officer slipped and fell, and was lying on his back. At that point, the police report of the incident states, “The suspect withdrew a long piece of metal from his beltline and raised it over his head, and came toward the officer.

“The three officers were forced to fire their weapons to defend themselves, striking the suspect.”

According to Seattle Police Deputy Chief Nick Metz, this all happened very quickly. The police say less than 30 seconds elapsed from when they first approached Keewatinawin to when he was shot. Keewatinawin was shot multiple times. (Witnesses say they heard between 8 and 11 shots, but the family has not yet received a copy of the coroner’s report, so they don’t know how many times Keewatinawin was hit.) Jack Keewatinawin died moments later, lying in his neighbor’s grassy front yard, close to their driveway, in a large pool of blood.

The killing was witnessed by several neighbors, and most of them have troubling doubts about how the police handled the incident. One calls the shooting “totally unacceptable,” and others suggest that officers should have known Keewatinawin was a schizophrenic, since they’d been called to the house several times over the years when he was off his medication and having problems. Several times over the past three years, police had helped get him into an ambulance for a trip to the hospital. It is not clear if the responding officers were aware of the victim’s mental illness and history.

Henry Northwind, who was trying to calm both the police and his son that night, saw what happened from beginning to tragic end, and insists that the police murdered his son at close-range, in cold-blood.

 

**********

This was the second controversial shooting of an American Indian in the last two years in Seattle, and comes after the Department of Justice had investigated how that city’s police deal with confrontational situations. In 2010, totem carver John T. Williams was shot on a public street one afternoon after being confronted by a police officer mistook his carving knife to be a lethal weapon. The shooting was ruled unjustified by Seattle’s Police Firearm Review Board, and on April 29, 2011 the city of Seattle agreed to pay copy.5 million to the family of the Native woodcarver. In July, the Department of Justice and the city of Seattle signed an agreement that requires Seattle police to try to de-escalate such confrontations, and decrease their use of force.

Henry Northwind, Jack’s father, draws out a map describing how the events of February 26th happened. (Renee Roman Nose)
Henry Northwind, Jack’s father, draws out a map describing how the events of February 26th happened. (Renee Roman Nose)

Henry Northwind was a agonized witness to the horrifying events of that day, and he insists the killing of his son was unjustified. He is a former policeman, and says he is familiar with the proper police protocol for such situations. He says those procedures were not followed.

He says that by the time police arrived in response to the 911 call, his son had calmed down, and that he and Jack were in their front yard. Northwind says he told the police that his son had a knife and a piece of iron. “He’s calmed down now, you don’t have to kill him,” he says he told them. “Don’t kill him, please!”

He says the lead officer pushed him aside and said, “He’s heavily armed.”

“I said, ‘Hey don’t kill my son!’ I was in front of them and Jack was [about five feet behind me]. At that time Jack turned around and ran straight back to the house and, in unison these guys moved … and I’d say there were about 15 cops on the curb … They all had shotguns and pistols drawn…[Jack] got to the porch and he turned around and two guys got him in the chest with the Tasers and he just ripped them out and took off again…he had thin, thin, really thin jacket and a real thin, super thin t-shirt, I saw [the Tasers] stick to his [chest] and he went like that”—indicating grabbing both Tasers and pulling them out—“and he just tore them away, and uh, you know that’s at least 50 thousand [volts]! [One policeman] said, ‘He just shook it off like somebody just slapped him!’”

At this point, Northwind’s telling of what happened that night diverges radically from the police account. The police report says Keewatinawin ran and one of the officers pursuing him fell at his feet, and appeared to be vulnerable to an attack. Northwind says this is not true. “When Jack ran over here, he slipped—there was no cop that slipped, I swear to God there was no cop, no! Jack was on the ground… and he got up. He was on one leg, he was getting up with his hands, and he went like this”—he throws his arms in the air—”and when he did that, they opened fire on him!

“They said he had something in his hand. There was nothing in his hand, nothing, not a damn thing.

“That last shot, my knees buckled on me and I said, “They killed my son!”

Northwind says a police officer ran up to him and said, “What are you doing over here?” Northwind says he told the policeman, “That’s my son you just murdered.”

Northwind claims that officers then put two guns to his head to keep him from running to his son.

He says that when he told one of the officers, “That’s my son you just murdered!” the officer replied, “Ugh,” and ran to the large group of officers. Moments later Northwind says he heard one policeman say, ‘Hey, found it!’ and another officer respond, “What?” “An iron bar,” came the reply. Northwind says he then heard the first officer say, “Oh, damn, now at least we have a story.”

“Right in front of my fucking face they said that!” Northwind says. “One guy said, ‘That’s the father!’ and the other guy says, “Oh, shit.”

“They were wrong, and they were in fear. I could see the fear in this guy’s eyes. I just gave him a tongue-lashing.” I asked him, “Are you happy? How many more Indians you think you need to kill?

“Finally, I just screamed, ‘They killed my baby boy!’”

 

**********

The knife Jack Keewatinawin was carrying when he was shot was found the next morning, but not by the police. The father of Courtney Lewis’s boyfriend found it in the Brubaker’s driveway, several yards from where Jack lay dying the night before.

Lewis says that when she and her family and boyfriend heard the commotion next door, they gathered at the windows to see what was going on. When they saw the police lined up across the street, facing them, looking toward the Northwind/Lewis duplex. She says her boyfriend sensed danger and told them all to “get away from the windows and go to the back rooms.”

As she and her children gathered in the back of the house, she called out to him to join them. As he came down the hallway the shooting began. It was over in a moment, Lewis says, and then “We could hear Henry crying out, ‘Stop shooting him! Stop shooting him!’

“I don’t think for a second that Jack was a threat to the police,” she says. “He was like one of the kids. Not for one second did I think he would hurt me or one of my kids.”

Olivia Brubaker, who lives in the duplex in front of which Jack was shot, says “There were fifteen cops in front of my house. My fiancé and I opened the front door to see Jack shot five or six times, bleeding severely, on my lawn. He was crying from all the pain and we heard the words, ‘Help me’ slipping from his lips.”

Olivia’s sister, Alexandra, says, “The cops said he had a weapon, that this weapon was a large metal rod… Those things that they have said are lies. From what I saw, from what other neighbors saw, what his family and friends saw, he had no weapon [on him] and died within minutes on my lawn.”

Several bullets fired by police went into the duplex on the other side of the Brubaker’s, one going through a front window and two through a wall. One neighbor reported that stray bullets hit a neighboring house as the homeowner was lying on the couch—that man says he heard “the bullets go whizzing by his head.”

Police reports state that Keewatinawin had three weapons: an 18-inch piece of rebar, a knife and what has been described as a “sharpened stone” but was actually a teardrop-shaped cephalopod fossil which had been in the Northwind family for years.

Montano Northwind, Jack’s oldest brother, says family members asked to view the police dash-cam videos of the shooting and were told the cameras were not turned on because the incident had occurred during a shift-change.

Olivia Brubaker says that after the shooting she saw and overheard the police arguing with one another, saying, “How could you have done that? This is a big screw-up!”

Friends and neighbors of Henry Northwind also say the police did not interview them to find out what they saw or heard that evening.

Hawk Northwind, another of Jack’s brothers, adds, “The cops weren’t telling the truth, they weren’t. All of the sudden there’s no video camera? Saying there was a shift-change?… That’s bullshit… [They] have been shooting and killing us for five hundred years—when’s it gonna stop?”

 

**********

At this point there are more questions than answers. The Northwind brothers and their father are questioning why they weren’t allowed to view the body before it was prepared for viewing. They have requested a copy of the coroner’s report, and were told it will take 8-10 weeks to process their request. The family has met with an attorney and is weighing their options as they seek justice for Jack. Montano says his family wants, “Justice for Jack, justice for the mentally ill, justice for the Native community, and justice against police brutality that is going on everywhere, especially in Seattle. I don’t want it to be that way, but it seems especially bad in Seattle and I want it to stop.”

The family also hopes the Seattle police department can be compelled to abide by the recommendations it accepted in that Justice Department settlement.

Their friends and neighbors are also crying out for justice. “The truth must be told and heard about this loss,” Olivia Brubaker says. “Jack must be remembered so something like this never happens again. So no more lives have to be lost like this, so the children of any neighborhood are not scarred mentally. The cops lied about his weapon, about his death, and about the threats he made toward them.

“Justice must be brought upon the cops involved with his death. I hope to encourage others to stand up and let the truth be known.”

 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/04/03/neighbors-dispute-police-account-shooting-native-man-seattle-148519

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs to Hold Hearing on Tribal Housing Programs

Key Tribal Housing Bill Expires in September, Will Need to Be Reauthorized

WASHINGTON D.C. – On Wednesday, April 10 at 2:15 PM, Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-WA) will chair a U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs oversight hearing to address housing issues and challenges in Indian Country.

The hearing – entitled “Identifying Barriers to Indian Housing Development and Finding Solutions” – comes five months prior to the expiration of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act (NAHASDA) in September 2013. NAHASDA was last reauthorized in 2008 for five years.

Wednesday’s hearing – the first Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Hearing of the 113th Congress – will review priorities for NAHASDA reauthorization and highlight the housing and infrastructure needs of Tribal members. The hearing will take place in Room 628 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, and will be available online at indian.senate.gov.

The Committee will seek to determine how to increase cooperation among the federal agencies to improve Tribal housing programs at the Tribal level. Current obstacles for Tribes include the complexity of the environmental review process when using resources from different federal agencies, as well as the timely approval of Indian housing and development plans.

In 1996, Congress first passed NAHASDA to better meet the needs of Tribal governments and to acknowledge that Tribes, through self-determination, are best suited to determine and meet the needs of their members. NAHASDA replaced funding under the 1937 Housing Act with Indian Housing Block Grants and provided tribes with the choice of administering the block grant themselves or through their existing Indian Housing Authorities or their tribally-designated housing entities. In 2002, NAHASDA was reauthorized for five years, and was again reauthorized in 2008 for a five-year period which expires in September 2013.

 

DETAILS

WHAT: Senate Committee on Indian Affairs oversight hearing on
“Identifying Barriers to Indian Housing Development and Finding Solutions”

WHEN: 2:15 PM, Wednesday, April 10, 2013

WHERE: 628 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Live video and witness testimony will be provided at indian.senate.gov.

WITNESS LIST

MR. RODGER BOYD, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Native American Programs, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, DC

MS. CHERYL A. CAUSLEY, Chairperson, National American Indian Housing Council, Washington, DC

MS. ANNETTE BRYAN, Director, Puyallup Nation Housing Authority, Tacoma, WA

MR. PAUL IRON CLOUD, Director, Oglala Sioux Lakota Housing Authority, Pine Ridge, SD

MR. RUSSELL SOSSAMON, Executive Director, Choctaw Nation Housing Authority, Durant, OK

 

Verle Howard Hatch

Verle HatchVerle Howard Hatch, 83 of Tulalip, WA, passed away April 6, 2013.
He was born November 22, 1929 in Tulalip, WA to Cyrus and Martha Hatch. He served in the Army during the Korean Conflict, where he was a prisoner of war. He met and married Anna Mae Gobin on January 15, 1954. He worked on a tug boat for E.A.

Nord and Foss Tug for many years and he worked and retired at Tulalip Housing. He was active in the Tulalip Color Guard for 25 years.
He leaves his wife of 60 years, Anna Mae; three daughters, Karen Bayne, Vicki Jablonski, and Gloria Hatch; sister Betty Smith; several grandchildren and great-grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, George Rice, Ernest Dunbar, Wayne Hatch, Cy Hatch; and sister, Frances Jackson.
We love you, Pa, and will miss you greatly!
Visitation will be held Tuesday, April 9, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. at Schaefer-Shipman Funeral Home, followed by an Interfaith service at 6:00 p.m. at the Tulalip Gym. Funeral Services will be held Wednesday, April 10, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. at the Tulalip Gym with burial following at Mission Beach Cemetery.
Arrangements entrusted to Schaefer-Shipman Funeral Home, Marysville.

Duke Study Finds Diabetes Research Concentrates on Treatment, Not Prevention

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

A recent Duke University study has found that diabetes research primarily focuses on drug therapies as opposed to prevention, reported the Huffington Post.

In a report published in the journal Diabetologia, study authors concluded that research pertaining to diabetes prevention and therapy is insufficient.

Duke scientists examined nearly 2,500 diabetes-related trials from 2007 to 2010, of which almost 75 percent emphasized diabetes treatment and only 10 percent observed preventative measures. The majority of trials, more than 63 percent, involved a drug, whereas less than 12 percent used behavioral tests.

In addition, study authors found diabetes research tends to exclude older adults and children who stand to significantly benefit from improved disease management. Adults and seniors face the highest risk of diabetes, but the condition is also on the rise among children and youth—especially in Indian country, a finding consistent with increases in obesity among Native American youth, states a U.S. Department of Agriculture 2012 report to Congress titled, “Addressing Child Hunger and Obesity in Indian Country.”

Furthermore, many trials were completed in a short time span of two years and did not include geographically diverse diabetes patients. “The majority of diabetes-related trials include small numbers of participants, exclude those at the extremes of age, are of short duration, involve drug therapy rather than preventive or non-drug interventions and do not focus upon significant cardiovascular outcomes,” the report in Diabetologi states. “Recently registered diabetes trials may not sufficiently address important diabetes care issues or involve affected populations.”

Study researcher Dr. Jennifer Green, an associate professor at Duke University School of Medicine and a member of the Duke Clinical Research Institute, said the exclusion of older adults and children from these trials means that the research can’t necessarily apply to them. “We really don’t understand how best to manage disease in these patients—particularly among patients of advanced age,” she said in the statement. “So the exclusion of them from most studies and the small number of trials that specifically enroll older individuals is problematic.”

 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/04/08/duke-study-finds-diabetes-research-concentrates-treatment-not-prevention-148670