Sunday, May 5, 2024
5/5/2024
Nevada Urban Indians Inc. (NUI) proposes a set of goals, objectives, and activities in response to HHS-2022-IHS-UIHP2-0001 to improve the health and well-being of Urban Indians. NUI is the only urban Indian organization in Nevada, serving American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) who live in Washoe County (main cities Reno and Sparks), Carson City, and surrounding territories in northern Nevada. NUI is focused on Natives living off of reservations, but also helps tribal members seeking more confidentiality, efficiency, and continuity of services than those provided by their tribal organizations. In this 4-in-1 Health Program grant, NUI will continue a 46 year history to ensure that comprehensive, culturally acceptable personal and public health services are available and accessible to Urban Indians. Our project will focus on the four service areas: health promotion and disease prevention; immunization services; mental health services; and alcohol and substance abuse related services. The Project aligns well with NUI’s vision to substantially improve the health of local Natives, by providing a higher-quality health care than currently available. There is a great need to address the unmet health care needs of Urban Indians (AI/AN who live off of reservations in urban settings). For example, AI/AN experience higher rates of death from chronic illness including diabetes, chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, and mellitus; and suicide which is at a 2.5 times higher rate among youth than the rest of the country. Natives also encounter higher rates of single parenthood, unemployment, disability, and poverty - which limits access to adequate health care, healthy foods, quality housing, and economic opportunities. Native American youth living on or near reservations also report substantially higher use of alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, and other illicit drugs than non-native American youth. Moreover, individuals without health insurance are less likely to receive care and often take longer to recover after the onset of a chronic disease than those with health insurance. In NUI’s service area: approximately a quarter of AI/AN individuals lived in poverty (25.9%), compared to 10.8% of Non-Hispanic white (NHW) individuals; and nearly a sixth of AI/AN’s (16.9%) reported having no health insurance, compared to 8.2% of the NHW population (American Community Survey, 2013-17). NUI is on track to continue to enhance the 4-in-1 Grant Program in Northern Nevada. The clinic has the direct staffing and resources to deliver patient services, administer vaccines/immunizations, and provide mental health and substance abuse counseling. The NUI CEO who is of Native descent, will serve as the 4-in-1 Program Director, and all key personnel are in place, such as the Mental Health & Substance Abuse Counselor, Medical Office Administrator, Nurse Practitioner, Medical Assistant and Medical Biller. The clinic currently operates as an outpatient facility five days per week, and we utilize third-party billing and a sliding fee scale for uninsured and underinsured patients. Over the next year, we plan to hire an additional Medical Provider and expand services in Carson City. We propose the following goals and related objectives for our 4-in-1 Health Program: (1) Educate the local urban AI/AN population on a variety of health topics, disease prevention, and available outside resources; (2) Provide high-quality individualized primary care to the local urban AI/AN population; (3) Protect children, adolescents, adults and communities from vaccine preventable diseases; (4) Increase treatment retention, reduce recidivism of legal interaction, reduce relapse, and improve quality of life for client and family; (5) Improve the mental health of AI/AN adolescents and families; increase staff awareness of behavioral health issues and increase community awareness of mental health issues and community mental health services.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
