Culture as Medicine: Reimagining Health Education to Address and Impact Health Inequity in Our Communities
Public invited to presentation and conversation
Moorhead, Minn. – The Sanford Heimarck School of Health Professions at Concordia College invites the public to “Culture as Medicine: Reimagining Health Education to Address and Impact Health Inequity in Our Communities” with Dr. Naomi Bender at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17, in the Centrum, Knutson Campus Center.
Bender, an indigenous Quechua (Peru), is the director of Native American Health Sciences and the new Center for Native American Health at Washington State University, Spokane. She previously was a senior project coordinator at the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Her work focuses on helping expand the number of Native Americans in the healthcare workforce, embedding culturally inclusive curriculum and pedagogy for all learners in health education, and working with tribes in the Pacific Northwest to support tribal health needs and projects they prioritize.
“Culture as Medicine” will explore how Washington State University Health Sciences and Concordia College and the Sanford Heimarck School of Health Professions are working to address health inequities within the communities they aim to serve.
“Through the oral histories, stories, dreams, and spirit guides of our people, Indigenous healers, educators, elders, and community members who represent salmon from many waters, have formed an alliance in the tributaries of the Pacific Northwest,” Bender said. “Together, we embark upon our challenging 4,000-mile journey, to bridge the long-held cultural divide between Western medicine and Indigenous healing perspectives and balance them in ways that honor the healing needs of our people for generations to come.”
The presentation is free.
For more information:
Dr. Gwen Halaas/Dean of Sanford Heimarck School of Health Professions
Candace Harmon/Media Relations