Day 4: Observation Clinical & Donation Delivery

What have you learned about childrearing practices in this culture?

          I learned that caring for the child is done so within the family. Part of the culture is that the parents take care of their children as well as care for their children’s children. When parents marry, each of their genetic codes determine what the child will be. If parents marry outside of their specific tribe or to someone not of Indian descent, it reduces the child’s “Indian quantum.” The lower the quantum, the less benefits they receive. The child must be at least 1/16 to become a member of the tribe, which will then be able to receive their services. If they do not meet this, then the child would need health insurance. If they needed to go to the hospital, they could use ER services. For any other service, they would need to transfer to another hospital for care.

Which individuals have much respect and authority and why?

          Though I have not been told specifically whom holds highest respect and authority, it seems that those that are full-blooded Cherokee (which is said to be a half-dozen people) would be thought of highly seeing as their family line has been so well preserved. These individuals would also most likely have great stories that have been passed down the generations to be shared today about history that can be learned to those with open minds. We were also told that individuals will be highly respected if they show the highest respect back, which I believe is a great life philosophy.

What type of family structures or family types did you observe?

          I have not seen much family structures in place thus far. However, there was a patient on a unit today whom was being cared for. There were three family members who came in to visit at different times throughout their stay in this unit, which was within the first hour of my being there. This was already touching, seeing the love that they had for this patient. I can only imagine that after their transfer to the new unit that they would have even more family and friends to visit. Family is important to me, so seeing the care these members provided, it only makes me hope that this would happen for me as well.        

Who are the support systems in the community?

          There are many support systems for the Cherokee community. From speaking with the hospital personnel, there is always someone available to aid for a patient that is in need. With the placement of in-house specialists, this allows patients to receive the care they need when they need it, instead of waiting for the specialist to be called and waiting until they arrive to the hospital. This is beneficial in giving the care needed right then and there for that patient. Currently, the ER is the mental health unit, with three rooms for those needing these accommodations. However, the hospital already had plans to convert the old hospital into a behavioral health unit. This is the definition of patient advocacy, seeing as they are using their resources to provide patient care pertinent to that point in time. With the prevalence in the whole US of mental health care needs, including substance abuse, this will provide CIH with an even more broad-spectrum ability to provide support systems for their community.

 Consider the word resilience as it would relate to a child and/or family; “the ability to bounce back” from stress, challenges and vulnerabilities.  What do most children & families who are resilient have? 

          Resilient children and families all come with the ability to become stronger from those things that try to bring them down. I have met the friendliest group of people here of the Cherokee culture that have not discriminated against me, which is one thing I may have been expecting when coming here. Instead, they have been more insisting on teaching us the history of the culture as well as an everlasting interest in answering our questions about the culture so we can be as competent as we can learn to be in this week. Most importantly, I believe that this experience with this resilient group of individuals does not end here; learning to be culturally competent for the Cherokee Indian culture will continue at home by doing our own research and advocacy for them.

            After researching, I have come across and will post this Resiliency Quiz. It lists many factors as to what makes someone more resilient and able to keep moving forward after facing trauma. As someone who has dealt with their own amount of hardships in life, I believe that this quiz made me more confident in myself to keep my head held high. I hope that it allows others to be driven in their certainty to succeed in life no matter their history.

Reference

Resilience Quiz Link:

Henderson, Nan. (2014). The resiliency quiz. Resiliency in Action. Accessed on 12 July 2017. Retrieved from https://www.resiliency.com/free-articles-resources/the-resiliency-quiz/.