Native Americans

Mazzy, age 9, and Ransom, age 6, were adopted by Gary and Cassie Walker after their biological parents got caught up in the opioid epidemic. The Walkers have adopted or fostered nine Cherokee kids during the drug crisis.

Opioids are devastating Cherokee families. The tribe has a $100 million plan to heal

Brian Mann

The fentanyl crisis is hitting young people hard, and the highest death rates are in Native American communities. The Cherokee Nation is working to help young families recover.

April Matson stands for a portrait in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. A few months after South Dakota banned abortion in 2022, Matson drove more than nine hours to take a friend to a Colorado clinic to get the procedure. The trip brought back difficult memories of Matson’s own abortion at the same clinic in 2016. The former grocery store worker and parent of two couldn’t afford a hotel and slept in a tent near a horse pasture — bleeding and in pain.

Health News Florida

Post-Roe, Native Americans face even more abortion hurdles

Associated Press

New, restrictive state laws add to a series of existing hurdles. There's a decades-old ban on most abortions at clinics and hospitals run by the Indian Health Service. Also, fewer other nearby health centers offer abortions.

A sign calling attention to drug overdoses is posted in a gas station on the White Earth reservation in Ogema, Minn.. A new study shows that early deaths due to addiction and suicide have impacted American Indian and Alaska Native communities far more than white communities.

NPR Health

Native Americans left out of 'deaths of despair' research

Rhitu Chatterjee

During the time that deaths from addiction and suicide among white Americans rose by about 9%, deaths among Native Americans shot up by about 30%, a new study shows.

James Fackrell and his father, are descendants of the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe in Washington state.

Health News Florida

More Native Americans Enrolling In Med School. A St. Pete Grad Plans To Join Them

Kerry Sheridan

James Fackrell, a descendant of the of the Snoqualmie Tribe in Washington State, is on his way to Brown after gaining entry to the university’s guaranteed medical school acceptance program.

A child washes her hands at a day care center in Connecticut last month. A detailed look at COVID-19 deaths in U.S. kids and young adults by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the great majority are children of color.

Health News Florida

The Majority Of Children Who Die From COVID-19 Are Children Of Color

Jane Greenhalgh

According to data reported to the CDC, 121 children died from COVID-19 between February and July of this year. And 78% of the children who died were Hispanic, Black or Native American.

A white paper focused on strategies to expand Native American health care was recently presented at a gathering in Chicago organized by the Association of American Indian Physicians

Health News Florida

Doctor Shortage Prompts Push For Native Americans To Attend Medical School

Daylina Miller

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, American Indian and Alaska Native people suffer some of the poorest health outcomes in the...