Lakota Well-Being Project

11/11/2025

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11/09/2025

11/09/2025

November is Native American Heritage Month! In celebration, we’d like to introduce you to a few Native Americans who have made some enormous contributions to our country:

Susan La Flesche Picotte was born in 1865 on the Omaha reservation in Nebraska. When Susan was a young girl she watched a sick Native American woman ask to see a doctor several times for hours. The white doctor who ran the clinic ignored her and the woman died the next day. Her father Joseph La Flesche, who was part Native and part French Canadian, made sure Susan and her sisters learned their Omaha culture, but he also wanted them to be educated in white schools as well. Susan’s father told his people on the reservation "There is a coming flood that will soon reach us, and I advise you to prepare for it." Susan was sent to the reservation's Presbyterian school to learn English, then went to Virginia's Hampton Institute at the age of 14. Hampton Institute was a college established after the Civil War that taught African American students, but it also taught Native Americans as well. She excelled in academics and graduated as salutatorian of her class. In 1886 Susan applied to medical school. At that time very few women, even women who excelled in school and had privileged backgrounds, applied to medical school. She was accepted into the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania and graduated at the top of her class a year early, becoming the first Native American women to earn a medical degree. City hospitals on the East coast, impressed by her academic skills, wanted Susan to work for them and offered her a high salary, but she rejected them and returned to the Omaha reservation to practice medicine there. She became the sole doctor for more than 1200 people at the age of 24. In 1913, with the help of her husband Henry Picotte, she opened the first hospital on a Native reservation that was not funded by the US government. Still thinking about the Native American woman who died waiting for a doctor, Susan La Flesche Picotte had one rule for her hospital: everyone gets treated regardless of their race or ethnicity.

11/09/2025

11/07/2025

Created & Operated by Youth Entrepreneurs of Bear Horse Thunder Society

11/07/2025

In celebration of National Native American Heritage Month, we’re featuring our Native Agriculture and Food Systems Investments program and the efforts underway to ensure Native foodways and traditional knowledge remain valued and preserved.

Join us on Monday, November 24, 2025, at 10 am MT, for a powerful conversation about maternal health, first foods, and breastfeeding programs happening across Indian Country. Hear from keepers of Native foodways, and join us in safeguarding the seeds, stories, and systems that nourish Native communities.

➡️ Learn more about the speakers and register: https://bit.ly/4qJAj7u

11/07/2025

Tatáŋka — the buffalo — holds a sacred place in Lakota culture. 🦬✨
More than an animal, Tatáŋka was a relative and provider.
• Its flesh nourished the people
• Its hide became típi coverings, clothing & moccasins
• Its bones and sinew became tools — awls, needles, bowls, and more
Tatáŋka represents wówačhaŋtognaka — generosity — giving everything so the people could live.
Learn more about this powerful cultural connection ⬇️
https://bit.ly/3N3QaKL

11/07/2025

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News The gentle hum of conversation filled the Hibulb Cultural Center’s longhouse room on the afternoon of November 1, as community members gathered to celebrate the first day of Native American Heritage Month. At the center of it all was Rose Rae, an Indigenous author of ...

11/07/2025

FREE online program for TCU students!

Anatomy and Physiology I & II Supplemental Program
The AIHEC health initiatives team partnered with Dr. Allison Kelliher (Koyukon Atahabascan, Dena), an Alaskan physician, to create a supplemental educational anatomy and physiology program designed for TCU students. The program is specifically for TCU students enrolled in A&P II to work in partnership with A&P II offered at the TCUs, but is open to anyone interested participating. The FREE virtual program begins January 2026 and meets weekly through the Spring 2026 semester. Students can apply directly through the link or be referred to Maggie Grandon (mgrandon@aihec.org) to answer any questions.

Apply here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf-mBkJ2WLGILqiF3j6zm_Jwg8fWLHXPVvqtwkG9iObipHL3A/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=113572065067846820052