Native Public Health Resilience - The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska was terminated from its federally recognized Tribal status in 1966 and restored to a federally recognized tribe in 1990. Per the restoration agreement, the Tribe now exists as a non-reservation-based Tribe with an 11,674 square mile service area consisting of fifteen federally designated counties that include Wayne, Burt, Holt, Knox, Lancaster, Sarpy, Platte, Stanton, Douglas, Madison, Hall, and Boyd counties in Nebraska; Charles Mix County in South Dakota; and Woodbury and Pottawattamie counties in Iowa. The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska maintains five office locations throughout the Service Delivery Area. The primary focus of the Ponca Tribal Health Department is to improve health care services to Tribal members and other Native Americans. Guided by the Health strategic plan, significant growth has been made in services and staff. Ponca Health Services (PHS) serves the Native American community, providing holistic, caring, family-centered, and culturally sensitive services through a quality clinical and educational approach to health care. Starting with the Fred LeRoy Health & Wellness Center in Omaha, the Ponca Tribe now operates three holistic health centers serving Native Americans, including Ponca Hill Health & Wellness Center in Norfolk and Ponca Health Services, Lincoln. The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska Community Health Worker (CHW) Program is a unique community-based outreach program of trained, local community health care-guided people who provide a variety of health services custom made for the Native American community we serve. The goal of the CHW’s is to address heath care needs through the provision of community-oriented primary care services, including traditional Native American concepts in multiple settings, utilizing well-trained, community based, medically guided health care workers. Funding being requested for this grant opportunity would support PTN’s Community Health Workers, with the remaining funds dedicated to “Participant supplies” that would pass-through directly to the tribal members. Currently, the CHWs are underfunded and receive partial funding from miscellaneous and general funds. The Community Health Worker Program has been molded into a comprehensive outlet that streamlines social determinant of health deliverables directly to Tribal members. The 10 Essential Public Health Services (EPHS) in Indian Country unequivocally align with the vast range of services PTN’s CHWs deliver. This funding request will allow for enhanced Tribal capacity for the CHWs in facilitating the EPHS deliverables, and their core elements with pass-through assistance dedicated for elder lunches, health kits, essential items that would enhance Tribal members activities of daily living, health literacy opportunities and resources, health preventative management items, and financial capacity for increasing transportation services. Below are the EPHS that would be enhanced within the CHW programming. EPHS 1: Assess and monitor population health status, factors that influence health, and community needs and assets. EPHS 3: Communicate effectively to inform and educate people about health, factors that influence it, and how to improve it. EPHS 4: Strengthen, support, and mobilize communities and partnerships to improve health.
