Day 4 of Travel

The healthcare system here is set up to cater to the people. It was designed to make sure that the people of the community are getting the care that they want the way that they want it. The healthcare system is funded by the casino and also work with the tribal council to work with the hospital. They do have a few state regulations that they have to follow like having their ER open to the public and not only Cherokee. They have many different members on their healthcare team. In the primary care setting they have what they call pods. The have a nurse, CMA/LPN, physician, nurse practitioner, behavioral health, and CMS. They also have direct access to a pharmacy and when the pharmacy is closed, they can receive some of their medications from the ER. One of the biggest difference I noticed was while I was on the floor in, in-patient. The whole time we were there not one call light went off. When something beeped someone immediately went into the room to find out what the beeping was and stop it. I will say a similarity I saw was how people care. We may not have the healthcare system that they have, but I know there are many people who would love to see healthcare run in this way. I got to see how when someone comes in with a need is handled when I was observing in primary care. There was a person that came in to see a provider, but they knew that she also needed to see nutrition and a behavioral health specialist. She did not have an appointment to see either of these specialties but since she was early they had the person who did nutrition come in and speak with her while they were waiting for the provider and asked her if after she would like to speak with the behavioral health specialist because she had a history of mental health. One big alternative medicine that I have learned about bull nettle root. They use this for children who are teething. It helps to dry up secretions and help sooth teething pain. This is something that they place on the child’s neck once they start teething and it usually does not come off until they are toddlers.