{"id":36487,"date":"2023-09-15T18:42:12","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T23:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/a-new-opportunity-to-train-indian-pharmacists\/"},"modified":"2023-09-15T18:42:15","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T23:42:15","slug":"a-new-opportunity-to-train-indian-pharmacists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/a-new-opportunity-to-train-indian-pharmacists\/","title":{"rendered":"A New opportunity to train Indian Pharmacists"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0MISSOULA, Mont. \u2013 The University of Montana (UM) Skaggs School of Pharmacy recently was awarded over$2.4 million in grant funding by the Health Resources and Service Administration. The award will help Montana\u2019s only pharmacy school recruit and support Indigenous pharmacy students through the University\u2019s\u00a0 Native American Center of Excellence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NACOE, a HRSA-funded grant program housed at UM, aims to grow the number of Native American health care providers statewide and increase overall health care providers in rural areas across Montana. Most native pharmacists practicing at the Indian Health Service, Tribal Health and other facilities across Montana are Skaggs School of Pharmacy alumni.<\/p>\n

A success story in the field of Pharmacy is Damien Killsback, Northern Cheyenne now a Captain in the Indian Health Service, directing the Lame Deer IHS clinic.\u00a0 Damion Killsback, PharmD, MPH, and Captain, I.H.S. Public Health Service and CEO, Northern Cheyenne Service Unit Indian Health Service.<\/p>\n

The child of a single mother, Damion said that growing up in Busby, Mont., (the White River Cheyenne community) was \u201cnot that much fun.\u201d However, he credits his mother Jackie Tang for requiring very strict standards, urging her three sons to gain an education. Thus, after attaining his initial college degree, it took another six years for Damien to become a pharmacist. \u201cI was trained as a boy to come back home and help my people,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe need to encourage our other young ones to follow that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cGraduating many Native pharmacists is really impactful,\u201d said NACOE Program Coordinator Wilena Old Person.<\/p>\n

The four-year grant will bolster continued efforts to increase Native clinical and campus-based faculty, support research to help alleviate health disparities, and provide cultural training relevant to health care and behavioral health. The grant is directed by\u00a0Skaggs School of Pharmacy<\/a>\u00a0faculty members Lori Morin, Mark Pershouse and Cherith Smith.<\/p>\n

With the support of federal grants, the school has graduated 85 Native American pharmacists. It ranks among the top five schools nationally for the highest number of American Indian and Alaska Native Doctor of Pharmacy students, including 11 students enrolled this academic year.<\/p>\n

While the numbers are impressive, Old Person credits the program\u2019s success to the supportive, student-centered environment cultivated within NACOE. The center works with Native UM pharmacy or pre-pharmacy students and connects them with services like tutoring and mentorship, as well as a community of University staff and peers who share a spectrum of Indigenous identities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think having Native people in Native-focused grants is really important,\u201d said Old Person, who grew up on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, MT before graduating from UM with a history degree. \u201cI work with students who look like me. I can help advocate for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nano Stiffarm, a Gros Ventre tribal member and descendent of the Blackfeet, Cree and Little Shell tribes, transferred to UM after a year at Montana State University initially to pursue his dream of becoming a pharmacist. He also found connection and community on campus through NACOE mentorship with the \u00a0UM\u2019s Health Careers Opportunity Program<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I noticed throughout my time at UM is there are a lot of programs for Native students,\u201d Stiffarm said. \u201cThat was always really attractive to me, that support system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also hailing from Browning, Stiffarm said the support system helped his transition from a small town to living in an urban area where his entire high school class could fit into a single anatomy classroom. Finding connection, community and support helped him feel like he wasn\u2019t just a number.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now in his last year of the Doctor of Pharmacy program, Stiffarm is doing a pharmacy rotation in\u00a0Hardin, Mont. near the Crow Reservation in addition to completing an MBA. He\u2019ll apply to residency programs in the fall, bringing him one step closer to his end goal of returning home to Browning and serve his community as a pharmacist.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pharmacy graduates often return to work in their Native communities, Old Person said. Each improves the level of health care access and lessens health disparities while providing care with the cultural needs and norms of Tribal or rural communities in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn rural areas, we know access to health care is just not the greatest. Pharmacists are, a lot of the time, the most accessible health care providers.\u201d Stiffarm said. \u201cI\u2019ve always just wanted to influence the people in my community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Killsback, who now deals with the Northern Cheyenne community as Director of the Lame Deer IHS clinic agrees. \u201cWe have a serious shortage of health care providers,\u201d he said. \u201cMore of our educated health professionals should come back home to help their people.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Contact Clara Caufield at acheyennevoice@gmail.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The post A New opportunity to train Indian Pharmacists<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0MISSOULA, Mont. \u2013 The University of Montana (UM) Skaggs School of Pharmacy recently was awarded over$2.4 million in grant funding by the Health Resources and Service Administration. The award will help Montana\u2019s only pharmacy school recruit and support Indigenous pharmacy students through the University\u2019s\u00a0 Native American Center of Excellence. NACOE, <\/p>\n

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Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> September 15, 2023<\/p>\n

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