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Serving American Indian/Alaska Native communities since 1996
Healthcare
Updated April 20, 2020
The National Indian Health Board has developed a COVID-19 Tribal Resource Center that contains updates and communication, community health tools, advocacy tools, and lists upcoming calls, webinars and events. In addition, they have collated federal administration and agency information and guidance from such agencies the National Institute of Health, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. They are asking Tribes, Tribal Clinics, and Tribal Organizations that have created a response plan or policy and/or have developed resources to share them with NIHB so they can be shared more broadly.
The National Council of Urban Indian Health has created a Coronavirus Resource Center. This page has a COVID-19 Legislative Tracker, Letters on COVID-19 Response, Press Releases and Policy Updates, Legislative Updates, News, Fact Sheets and Resources, and a list of upcoming event such as webinars. Beginning April 03, 2020, they will be hosting a Community of Learning COVID-19 Response Series. Their page also contains links to the Indian Health Service.
The National Urban Indian Family Coalition which advocates for American Indian families living in urban areas and conducts research to better understand the barriers, issues, and opportunities facing urban American Indian families has published a report entitled, “Resiliency in Crisis: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Urban American Indian Nonprofit Sector” and posts COVID-19 specific resources on their website.
Tribal Epidemiology Centers consist of twelve Indian Health Service funded organizations who serve American Indian/Alaska Native Tribal and urban communities by managing public health information systems, investigating diseases of concern, managing disease prevention and control programs, responding to public health emergencies, and coordinating these activities with other public health authorities. On their main webpage, they have gathered COVID-19 Resources, a central resource to find the latest updates and guidance. The page has links to grant opportunities and links to each of the twelve TECs.
The Indian Health Service has created a site to address their response to Coronavirus (COVID-19). This site provides statistics on COVID-19 cases by IHS area, frequently asked questions, news (which has a list of letters directed to tribal leaders and urban Indian organization leaders), resources (including clinical resources, COVID-19 materials developed for tribal use, and FEMA resource request guidance), and has a list of Area Emergency management Points of Contact.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has gathered COVID-19 resources on their Tribal Health website. This site has information on funding. On April 01, 2020, the “Supporting Tribal Public Health Capacity in Coronavirus Preparedness & Response” non-competitive funding opportunity was announced. This emergency funding opportunity is designed to fund federally recognized tribes that contract or compact with the Indian Health Service under Title I and Title V of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, or consortia of these tribes, or their bona fide agents. All federally recognized tribes, tribal organizations, consortia of federally recognized tribes, or their bona fide agents should apply for this announcement to be considered for future funding under this announcement. Applications are due May 31, 2020. In addition, the CDC created a publication entitled Public Health Law that links to resources that describe and discuss topics related to tribal public health law.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has also developed a resource entitled Social Distancing for Tribal Communities with Local COVID-19 Transmission that includes links to the following other COVID-19 Guidance for Tribal Members:
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Use of Cloth Face Coverings to Help Slow the Spread of COVID-19
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Social Media Materials:
The Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board is engaged in many areas of Indian health, including legislation, health promotion and disease prevention, as well as data surveillance and research. They have created an NPAIHB COVID-19 Update page that links their resources, to CDC and Federal Guidance, to Policy and Legislative Resources, to Alternative Care Sites, to TeleECHO Learning Sessions, and has Tips and Resources for Community Messaging for COVID-19. In addition, they will be holding weekly update calls to assist NW Tribes in responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency. This page also has the Dear Tribal Leader Letter on COVID-19 dated March 13, 2020 and a Dear Tribal Leader Shelter in Place Letter dated March 23, 2020.
The American Indian Health Commission (AIHC) was created in 1994 by federally recognized tribes, Urban Indian health organizations, and other Indian organizations to provide a forum for addressing tribal-state health issues. The Commission’s mission is to improve the health of AI/AN people through tribal-state collaboration on health policies and programs that will help decrease disparities. The Commission works on behalf of the 29 federally-recognized Tribes and 2 Urban Indian Health Organizations in the State of Washington. Below are links to the major categories of extensive resources (including many helpful models) included on AIHC’s 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) webpages:
The California Indian Rural Health Board (CRIHB) has placed COVID-19 response updates on their Public Health Updates page. CRIHB activated a Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) Task Force on March 2, 2020. CRIHB leadership CRIHB leadership participated in a series of COVID-19 stakeholder meetings and planning sessions at the county, state, and national level and the site lists key highlights of information shared in these meetings, provides links to situational reports and has links to a number of tribal resources.