Reflections on Dr. Donald A.B. Lindberg and Native Voices.

Personal reflections on Donald A.B. Lindberg M.D. are offered by four Native American leaders who were instrumental in the successful development of the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Native Voices Exhibition: Stories of Health and Wellness from American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. A uniquely collaborative effort, the exhibition features nearly 100 videographed interviews conducted by Dr. Lindberg with Native elders, healers, leaders, and people. He is credited with the incorporation of indigenous peoples' healing knowledge in a personal and relational way, making for a wonderful journey together that was a very large chapter in his life and that of the authors.

Reflections on Dr. Donald A.B. Lindberg and Native Voices.

Personal reflections on Donald A.B. Lindberg M.D. are offered by four Native American leaders who were instrumental in the successful development of the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Native Voices Exhibition: Stories of Health and Wellness from American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. A uniquely collaborative effort, the exhibition features nearly 100 videographed interviews conducted by Dr. Lindberg with Native elders, healers, leaders, and people. He is credited with the incorporation of indigenous peoples' healing knowledge in a personal and relational way, making for a wonderful journey together that was a very large chapter in his life and that of the authors.

The Alaska-Siberia Medical Program: 24 years in retrospect.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this paper is to give the reader some idea of life in Siberia and Alaska during the creation of our first medical exchanges during the most difficult of political times. STUDY DESIGN: Various projects were designed using National Institutes of Health (NIH) criteria for our medical exchange. METHODS: As we took these first steps between the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR and the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies at the University of Alaska Anchorage, USA, the general areas of our first studies were: 1) Circadian Rhythm and Work-Related Injuries in the North; 2) Alcohol and its Abuse with Treatment Methodologies; 3) Public Health Administration and Design in the Far East and Alaska; 4) Cystic Echinococcosis in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic; 5) Viral Hepatitis in the Arctic; 6) Cardiology; 7) Nutrition; and 7) Diabetes Prevention. RESULTS: A film made by the University of Alaska which was shown on PBS' "Breaking the Ice: The Alaska-Siberia Medical Research Program"; various papers and books published on both sides; and a major contribution made to world peace through the medical workers on both sides of the Bering Sea. CONCLUSION: This major effort for peace showed the world how the peoples of Siberia and Alaska could come together and work for world peace through joint collaborations. Native people were reunited after years of separation, new avenues were created in anthropology, biology and medicine and, subsequently, the border was again opened between our peoples.

The Alaska-Siberia medical program: 24 years in retrospect.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this paper is to give the reader some idea of life in Siberia and Alaska during the creation of our first medical exchanges during the most difficult of political times. STUDY DESIGN: Various projects were designed using National Institutes of Health (NIH) criteria for our medical exchange. METHODS: As we took these first steps between the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR and the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies at the University of Alaska Anchorage, USA, the general areas of our first studies were: (1) Circadian Rhythm and Work-Related Injuries in the North; (2) Alcohol and its Abuse with Treatment Methodologies; (3) Public Health Administration and Design in the Far East and Alaska; (4) Cystic Echinococcosis in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic; (5) Viral Hepatitis in the Arctic; (6) Cardiology; (7) Nutrition; and (8) Diabetes Prevention. RESULTS: A film made by the University of Alaska which was shown on PBS' "Breaking the Ice: The Alaska-Siberia Medical Research Program"; various papers and books published on both sides; and a major contribution made to world peace through the medical workers on both sides of the Bering Sea. CONCLUSION: This major effort for peace showed the world how the peoples of Siberia and Alaska could come together and work for world peace through joint collaborations. Native people were reunited after years of separation, new avenues were created in anthropology, biology and medicine, and, subsequently, the border was again opened between our peoples.

Tribal connections health information outreach: results, evaluation, and challenges.

In 1997, the National Library of Medicine (NLM), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), initiated a program of intensified outreach to Native Americans, initially focusing on the Pacific Northwest in collaboration with the Pacific Northwest Regional Medical Library (PNRML). This initiative, known as the Tribal Connections Project, emphasized the establishment or strengthening of Internet connections at select Indian reservations and Alaska Native villages and related needs assessment and training. The hope was that these efforts would improve tribal access to health information available via the Internet and the Web. Phase I included sixteen tribal sites--eight in Washington, four in Alaska, two in Montana, and one each in Oregon and Idaho. Phase I results indicate that the project was successful in assessing local needs and building awareness of the Internet, forging new partnerships with and between the participating Indian reservations and Alaska Native villages and other organizations, making real improvements in the information technology (IT) infrastructure and Internet connectivity at fifteen of sixteen sites, and conducting training sessions with several hundred tribal participants across thirteen sites. Most importantly, the project demonstrated the key role of tribal community involvement and empowerment and contributed to development of an outreach evaluation field manual and the evolving concept of community-based outreach. The knowledge gained from Tribal Connections Project Phase I is helping refine and enhance subsequent NLM-sponsored tribal connections and similar community outreach efforts.