February is a month often known for everything love. It is not just for Valentine’s Day gifts and sweethearts, though. February is also National Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. The CPN House of Hope wants to encourage everyone to bring acknowledgment to dating violence and consider the health of your own relationships during February.
Oklahoma voters narrowly approved the expansion of Medicaid eligibility in June 2020, helping thousands of previously uninsured residents qualify for health coverage through the Affordable Care Act. Citizen Potawatomi Nation Health Services officials are ready to ensure new patients efficiently receive services and CPNHS can cost-effectively administer care. Apply for Medicaid at mysoonercare.org or by phone at 800-987-7767. Benefits specialists at the CPN clinics are also available to assist with enrollment.
This month’s report announces the calendar of meetings for 2022. Don’t forget that this month’s meeting will be held Tuesday, February 22.
In September 2021, CPN introduced him as the head coach of one of TBL’s newest expansion teams, the Potawatomi Fire: Derrick Rowland, who most recently coached TBL’s Albany (New York) Patroons. Along with helping the next generation of players develop both personally and professionally, Rowland is excited about the chance to represent something even bigger: pride in Indigenous identity. The Fire are the first professional sports team to be owned by a tribal nation in Oklahoma.
In November, the Warrior Diamond National Showcase All-Star team selected Citizen Potawatomi Nation member Chase Peltier to participate in a weekend-long lacrosse tournament in Baltimore, Maryland, to exhibit his skills for college recruiters from across the country. The 16-year-old Peltier descendant recently spoke with the Hownikan about his experience with the game and time in Baltimore.
CPN Behavioral Health will build a new clinical building thanks to a grant from the U.S. Indian Health Service. The current clinic is 4,300 square feet with care provided by eight professional staff, including one psychiatrist, three psychologists and five counselors. The new building is expected to house more providers, therapy rooms, a larger space for group therapy and a planned observation deck.
CPN Language Department Director Justin Neely gives a language update for February 2022 which discusses course work at Shawnee Middle School and teaching at the CPN Child development center.
After moving to New York City in 2017, professional photographer and artist Bo Apitz achieved a milestone. A shop in Manhattan displayed his work in October 2021, a first for Apitz. He used several photos of Citizen Potawatomi Nation tribal members he took while he was a CPN employee between 2014 and 2017. The series featured lenticular prints, which use two photos to create an illusion of depth and flip between pictures as the viewer’s angle changes. Apitz’s subjects seem to dance or blink.
February 2022 is the 155th anniversary of the Treaty of 1867, the last of several treaties that the Citizen Potawatomi signed with the U.S. federal government. This treaty was the final push for the first Citizen Potawatomi families to move from Kansas to Indian Territory. The U.S. Government officially ended treaty negotiations with Native American tribes in 1871.
Kristen Arambula Hernandez, a birth doula and Indigenous breastfeeding counselor in Norman, Oklahoma, emphasizes the importance of reclaiming Tribal knowledge and tradition surrounding birth, breastfeeding and raising children.