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2024 IHS Competency Training

To develop positive and productive doctor-patient relationships within the Jicarilla Apache community through understanding their culture and traditions. As a result, trust and mutual respect will be increased between the two: Doctor and Patient.

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Our Intention

Goal #1:  Share information regarding several of the present day ceremonies practiced by the Jicarilla Apache in order for non-residents to gain a better understanding of proper protocol for participation or observation.  Ceremonies are a great part of Jicarilla Apache rites of passage and healing.​

 

Goal #2:  Share a brief history of the Jicarilla Apache.  Who we are, where we came from and how we have come to live on the present day Jicarilla Apache Reservation. We will present a PowerPoint presentation that encompasses the rich history of the Jicarilla Apache. This will greatly assist the JSU staff members in comprehending the challenges and hardships that the Apache people faced during European northward and westward expansion and the remnants of cultural genocide.

 

Goal #3: Teach Jicarilla Apache language that is relevant to social interactions and health concerns.  Provide a Jicarilla Language Course for adult learners that emphasizes conversation rather than nouns, i.e. numbers, colors, and animal names.  Learning the Jicarilla language is important to earning respect from the community, just as it was a valuable asset of the late Jim Sutton, a great friend of the Jicarilla Apache.

 

Goal #4:  Teach herbal medicines and prayers that Jicarilla Apaches use from Earth Mother and as it was given to the Apaches by the Creator.

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July 27, 2023, in Dulce, NM, Bryan F. Vigil, an elder, and Lorene Willis, co-owner of L Designs, Etc., met with Dr. Daniel Haire, a Family Physician at the Jicarilla Indian Health Service. Dr. Haire, who has been in this role for over three years, shared that he has an eight-year-old son named Sam and a wife named Sarah. He is committed to enhancing the quality of life for his patients and himself, and his meeting with Bryan and Lorene aimed to better understand the Dulce community and improve cultural awareness among IHS staff to strengthen patient-provider relationships.

On March 1, 2024, in Dulce, NM, following the initial meeting with Dr. Haire, L Designs, Etc. was contracted to deliver Cultural Competency Training for the Jicarilla Indian Health Unit. This training, which commenced in March and ran through April 2025, featured monthly presentations by Lorene, Bryan, and other community elders.

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TOPICS

  • Go-jii-ya

  • Keesda

  • Bear Dance

  • History Part 1

  • History Part 2

  • Language and Culture Part 1

  • Language and Culture Part 2

  • Language and Culture Part 3

  • Herbs and Medicines

  • Wrap-Up/Comments

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