Covering Indian Country – August 2018

August 2018

Spotlight: R. Kylea Goff, PharmD

A tribally owned facility, NSHC is committed to providing health care to all. Although the majority of NSHC’s employees are based in the city of Nome, many medical staff regularly travel to remote Alaska villages to treat patients.

“One of our pediatricians was heading out for a village trip,” Dr. Goff explained. “I immediately started putting together a plan, not knowing if it would work.”

Dr. Goff’s first step was to identify children in Shishmaref who were due for vaccines but did not necessarily require a wellness visit. Arrangements were then made to vaccinate those children during the village trip, which involved a physician, a nurse, and two pharmacists. More than 175 vaccinations were provided over a 48-hour period.

“Each village trip takes the whole team to be successful. We are able to provide more services to our Alaska Native population when we work together.”

– R. Kylea Goff, PharmD, Assistant Directory of Pharmacy, Norton Sound Health Corporation

Since then, NSHC has completed four additional village trips using the same model. Under a collaborative agreement with a hospital provider, NSHC’s pharmacists now have the authority to vaccinate patients of all ages.

CDC’s award also honors Dr. Goff’s development of strategies to increase the number of children who receive flu vaccine during school-located vaccination events. Because of her efforts, 1,163 children in northwest Alaska received a flu vaccine during the 2017–18 flu season, compared with only 867 during the previous flu season.

When asked what she enjoys most about her work at NSHC, Dr. Goff emphasized the collaboration between all departments. “We bring pharmacy, pediatricians, nursing, health aides, public health, and others to the table,” she said. “This only makes the team stronger.”

August: Back-to-School Health Coverage

Additional resources

Children’s eye health

Also, inform parents that vision exams for children are often covered by insurance. Finally, check out the resources offered by Prevent Blindness, an organization that advocates for healthy vision.

National Immunization Awareness Month

My Health–Children’s and Adult Vaccinations (PDF, 1.3 MB, 2 pp) includes checklists to help ensure that persons of all ages are getting the vaccines they need.

Enroll in Medicaid: For yourself, For your family, For your community (PDF, 425 MB, 1p) explains who may be eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. It also lists the benefits of health coverage.

Tips for assisting rural health consumers

Are you involved in outreach and education efforts targeting rural consumers?

Cell phone reception, internet service, and access to provider networks and specialty care may be limited in rural communities. Also, some patients in those communities must travel longer distances for medical care, compared with residents of urban and suburban areas.

You can bolster your outreach and education efforts in rural areas by taking the following steps.

• Hold events where consumers are most likely to congregate. Examples include places of worship, schools, or grocery stores.
• Use social media, local radio stations, and newspapers to advertise outreach events and showcase enrollment success stories.
• Help community leaders become champions for health coverage.
• Develop relationships with as many local institutions, health providers, hospitals, health centers, and rural health stakeholders as possible.

For more details, download Serving Special Populations: Rural Areas Fast Facts for Assisters (PDF, 2.7 MB, 5 pp).

Calendar of Events

National Native Health Research Training Conference

August 8–10, 2018

Prior Lake, MN

The theme of this second annual conference is “Indigenous Research: Native Approaches to Sustainable Health.” Launched by Indian Health Service, the National Native Health Research Training (NNHRT) Initiative promotes tribally driven research activity through educational and training activities.

Title VI National Conference

August 13–16, 2018

Washington, DC

The 2018 Title VI National Training and Technical Assistance Conference will take place this August. Among topics such as Medicaid claiming, nutrition planning, and elder justice, there will also be several workshops that focus on topics including best practices for tribal nursing homes, record keeping, the opioid crisis, and data. Review the draft agenda, register, and reserve your room.

2018 Novitas Indian Health Service Workshops

Novitas Solutions, Inc., will conduct workshops for patient benefits and billing staff who work in Indian Health Service (IHS) facilities and programs. The sessions will focus on Medicare topics, including provider enrollment requirements, patient screening tools, and billing guidelines. The workshops will offer focused overviews of Part A and Part B services that are referenced in the IHS Training Manual.

Learn more about these workshops.

August 14, 2018
IHS 2018 Workshop
Ada, OK

August 22, 2018
IHS 2018 Workshop
Bemidji, MN

August 29, 2018
IHS 2018 Workshop
Portland, OR

NICOA 2018 Conference on Aging

September 10–13, 2018

Temecula, CA

At the National Indian Council on Aging (NICOA) conference, learn about critical policy issues for elders and new programs and services from other tribal communities. Attend workshops, voice policy recommendations, and participate in culturally rich events. Learn more.

National Tribal Health Conference

September 17–20, 2018

Oklahoma City, OK

The National Indian Health Board will hold its 35th Annual National Tribal Health Conference at the Cox Convention Center. More details will be available soon.

Third Annual Conference on Native American Nutrition

October 2–5, 2018

Prior Lake, MN

This conference is for tribal officials, health care professionals, researchers, and others with an interest in Native nutrition and food science. Check out the agenda and register now.

NCAI’s 75th Annual Convention & Marketplace

October 21–26, 2018

Denver, CO

Please save the date for this event, which will be hosted by the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI). Sign up to be notified when registration opens.