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The history of the United Indian Health Services began in 1968. It was a time when Native activism coincided with
the nation-wide Civil Rights Movement and the Office of Economic Opportunity
programs. Together these factors helped create a new era of self-determination
for Indian peoples. In California, where health services were so lacking,
Indian groups formed their own health organizations. Each maintained
its separate programs but together they started the California Rural
Indian Health Board Inc. (CRIHB), an organization which continues
providing its members with a variety of quality improvement and advocacy
services. Sheer determination, hard work and financial sacrifice paid off when UIHS became an official non-profit organization, ready to serve people in 1970. UIHS started with community outreach services. The first services provided on site were dental services. UIHS continued to expand it's services into nearly every large town within Humboldt County, as well as servicing tribal members from every Rancheria and Reservation in the areas of Humboldt, Del Norte and Trinity Counties. The use of UIHS mobile services allowed the clinic to provide services to tribal members who still lived in areas that had no electricity or telephones. Over the next twenty years UIHS outgrew four sites, started several satellite clinics, and went from offering basic visiting community health representative's, dental and medical services to a thoroughly modern, full spectrum health service agency. Along the way UIHS has increasingly realized it's goal of incorporating traditional values and customs into daily activities. Back to Top Our path to the Potawot Health Village begins in the early 1990s. UIHS was again confronting the problems of too little space and ever increasing demand for programs and services. The Board of Directors and the administration: together decided to review the entire organization and develop a strategic plan that would be a five year guide. In January 1992 the Planning Task Force, chaired by long-time board member Betty Green, submitted the "Strategic Plan 1992-1997". It was immediately adopted by the full Board. The Planning Committee set to work and by March 1993 UIHS had a new facility in the works. Quickly plans fell into place for a space assessment at the Tsurai Health Center and for a study to determine the financial feasibility of pursuing this plan. The idea of a new health center closer to the main highways and to a hospital had such appeal that it seemed to develop its own momentum. It become the dream that would guide and excite the organization over the next several years. A health planning consultant helped UIHS understand the ways it needed to grow throughout the entire service area. The consultant outlined the building size UIHS should aim for and ideas about financing the project. Even while planning for the new clinic UIHS moved forward with plans for delivering better services throughout the undeserved regions of the service area. Howonquet Health Center at Smith River has been enlarged, the Klamath clinic site has been replaced, and new satellite clinics opened in Fortuna and Weitchpec, a counseling office on the Elk Valley Rancheria, and a clinic at Weitchpec. UIHS' model diabetes program grew in size and scope, the Child and Family Services Department was awarded grants to offer more services to children in the greatest need and to help people stay alcohol and drug-free. Back to Top At first the time line for replacing the Tsurai clinic was three years. In reality it took eight years. During that time the space crunch was solved by moving several departments to offices on the outskirts of Eureka and in Arcata, 45 minutes and 25 minutes away from Tsurai. The inconvenience and inefficiency were substantial but there was no other choice. UIHS' dream called for designing a facility that could be everything we ever wanted. As an organization, UIHS was ready to move forward. The hard work throughout the previous 25 years gave UIHS a good track record for progressive, professional governance as well as for high quality, culturally sensitive health services. Also, because the clinic has a good internal cohesiveness, loyal employees, and a strong connection to our the Indian community UIHS had the resilience to take a big risk. When somebody asks me, 'Well, when did all the planning for this get started?' I say, 'over thirty-some years ago, when they originally came together through United Indian Health Services. And the importance of all that is the community coming together to do it, and they got to go through a lot of suffering and a lot of hard times, a lot of fund-raising, a lot of conflict. Not all the time does everybody agree, but they had one goal in mind, and that was to provide better health care for their people. And they never lost sight of that goal. When you do it that way, when the people that do come together, no matter what their personal feelings are, etc. but they always remain true to their original goal, and that's their people and their culture. This is what you can get, this is what happens. And I think that more than anything is why Potawot came to be." Jerome Simone UIHS entertained proposals from several architects and selected Bob Weisenbach and his team from Seattle to draw up a design. When the Executive Committee first saw the concept drawings of the Health Village the air seemed to stand still for a moment. With the next breath everyone there knew this concept, the Health Village, would match the dream and that it would be more, much more, than a new building. Back to Top The concept of a tribal health village, and to identify with a history that is over 10,000 years old in this part of the country, and that had a defined architecture in the plank house design, is what was designed by the Weisenbach team. Dale Ann Frye Sherman, Yurok, was a part of the design team and informed them, "We, the people, are not different or separate from the environment. Our surroundings must reflect our connectedness to the outdoors, the rivers and salmon. We are water people and we are earth people. We are redwood and cedar people. We are family, extended family and community people. When one person is out of balance the community suffers. We dance to set the community, and the whole world in harmony and balance." Getting The Permits From The City of Arcata began the Spring 1996. We were ready to present our Health Village plan to the City of Arcata. The land we intended to buy was within the city limits and at that time it was zoned "Agriculture Exclusive." UIHS needed to have the Planning Commission recommend, and the City Council approve two actions: a General Plan & Zoning Map Amendment, and a Planned Development Permit. In the summer of 1996, UIHS needed to find ways to get the message to a whole new audience and to maintain their presence with respect, patience, and by sticking to a positive message, even in some very trying moments. After that surprise UIHS got very busy. In mid-1996 it was not assumed UIHS would get the necessary permit and General Plan amendment. A brochure, featuring a drawing of the Health Village and information about UIHS, was created. Internal informational and strategy meetings were held nearly every Monday morning. City Council members and candidates vying for council seats were invited for tours, and most accepted the invitation. UIHS representatives started giving presentations to service clubs and to groups affiliated with Mad River Hospital and the nearby elementary school, Pacific Union. In each of these the goal was to help Arcata citizens understand the UIHS organization and its' dream for the Health Village. A whole year later UIHS did get the approvals. Back to Top The "Cultural Resources Investigation of the Proposed United Indian Health Services Medical Complex" prepared by Roscoe Archaeological Consulting includes a quote from Llewelleyn Loud's 1918 publication on the Wiyot people that describe four Wiyot villages in the vicinity of the Health Village site and includes information that one of them is the burial site for many who were killed in the 1850 massacre on Indian Island. Now, in 2002, the land changes have been so great that it is not possible to locate the exact village sites but as the report notes "this entire Mad River region and the adjoining sloughs were heavily populated and extensively utilized by the indigenous Wiyot population". The whole area surrounding the lower Mad River is very important in Wiyot history. The fact that the site of the cemetery for many who died in the Indian Island Massacre is nearby adds to the significance of the area, especially since in the past decade a tradition of annual vigils for remembering and healing has begun. The names Potawot (means "Mad River") and Ku' wah-dah-wilth (means "comes back to life") have been given to this reborn place. Executive Director, Jerome Simone and the Board of Directors turned their attention to the massive fund raising task ahead. UIHS has a long history of getting grants for programs for client services but had never before undertaken a capital campaign. A Funding Task Force was created to guide the effort. UIHS was lucky to have a local community foundation, the Humboldt Area Foundation, that includes consultation for organizations like UIHS among its services. They provided advice, encouragement, and some seed money to help hire a fund raising consultant; in fact, their help made all the difference as UIHS started on the campaign. In late Summer 1998 when the clinic received the first donation there was both relief and encouragement. It is impossible to acknowledge all those who helped with time and money in this short account. Yet it must be said that the financial support and keen interest on the part of The California Endowment, The Ford Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation made it possible for UIHS to move ahead as quickly as we did. Back to Top Any building as original as the Potawot Health Village will pose challenges and problems for everyone involved: UIHS, the architect, the contractors, the subcontractors. UIHS worked through many hurdles, change orders, and delays both long and short. It is a credit to everyone that these uncharted waters were negotiated. Always the information flow between UIHS, the architect, the City of Arcata, and the contractor had to be swift, straightforward, and include every relevant detail. As Project Manager during most of the project Laura Kadlecik carried out this task with thoroughness that has earned her an everlasting feeling of appreciation, by UIHS. One example of the ways that the Indian and the non-Indian communities are closer together is the donation of a wonderful basket collection that Marian Ledgerwood had inherited from her mother, Mary Davison. These baskets are now on display in the central hallway (The Walk of the Elders) at Potawot. Today, in 2003, clients are served with innovative prevention programs, dental, medical, vision, nutrition, pharmacy, counseling, and a nationally renowned diabetes treatment and prevention program, as well as an increasing array of cultural and arts events. It is the combination of all this that makes the Indian community come together as a whole, and improves the overall health and wellness of everyone involved. Some have said that UIHS is truly a leader in Indian health because of always having been an Indian governed clinic, as well as our history of success in developing long-lasting culturally sensitive programs that meet the needs of the people. UIHS continues to be humbled by this. If it is so, UIHS will do what it can to help other Indian health organizations find what is right for them. Back to Top |
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A Brief Time Line for the History of Indian Health Services in California |
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| © Copyright 2003 United Indian Health Services. All Rights Reserved. UIHS is a non-profit organization. |