Following a series of severe storms in southeastern Oklahoma this May, CPN’s Emergency Management, FireLake Discount Foods, Health Services, Workforce Development and Social Services, and Grand Casino Hotel & Resort all mobilized to partner with nonprofit aid groups and the affected communities to respond to the disaster.
Citizen Potawatomi Nation Health Services will be offering health screenings and other services on Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25 during the 2022 Family Reunion Festival. Tribal members may also schedule an appointment at the health clinic during their visit to Shawnee.
Nishnabé referred to June as the Dé’men Gises (Strawberry Moon). Potawatomi hold strawberries in high regard, and Bodéwadmimwen (Potawatomi language) expresses it. Dé’men translates to “heart berry.” Strawberries also contribute to heart health, studies show.
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.
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.
George A. Vascellaro, D.O. – Chief Medical Officer for Citizen Potawatomi Nation Health Services and board-certified Osteopath gives an update on CPNHS and the coronavirus pandemic in fall 2021.
Within days of emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, Citizen Potawatomi Nation Health Services began receiving and administering vaccines to combat the coronavirus in central Oklahoma.
OU Health invited representatives from the Citizen Potawatomi Nation along with Indian Health Services and a handful of other Oklahoma tribes to help shape the curriculum for training efforts to improve dementia patient care overseen by the Oklahoma Dementia Care Network.
Despite diagnoses increasing by 377 percent between 2007 and 2016, demographic data on the roughly 32 million food allergy patients is limited. However, according to a study published in March 2020 of more than 23 million children nationwide receiving Medicaid benefits, Native American children were 24 percent less likely than their white peers to have a diagnosed food allergy.
CPN Health Services Chief Medical Officer Dr. Adam Vascellaro, D.O. gives updates on the coronavirus pandemic and the Tribe’s response.