From left, Native professional bull rider Dakota Louis speaks and professional skier Connor Ryan address youth at the conference.
By ROSELYNN YAZZIE
Sho-Ban News
SANDY, Utah — An Opioid Prevention Youth Conference was sponsored by Sacred Circle Healthcare on Saturday, March 23 at the Loveland Aquarium.
The event was made possible through an Opioid Prevention Grant to make sure youth and their families have the resources and knowledge to make wise decisions when it comes to opioid use and be aware of the dangers.
Anton Chamblee, Prevention Lead, said the conference is meant to show the youth they don’t need to use opioids and teach them other ways to manage their pain. They also want to emphasize how culture is not only their identity but is also a way to keep oneself from using opioids, or other drug use.
Youth and their parents heard from inspiring keynote speakers, including Connor Ryan, a Lakota Professional Skier and Professional Bull Rider, Dakota Louis, from the Northern Cheyenne and Northern Cree tribes from the Blackfeet Reservation. Providing entertainment was Navajo hoop dancer, Kayden Denny.
Ryan talked about his life as a professional skier and his film work, “Spirit of the Peaks” and “The New Radical” which is about his love of skiing, the love of the land and his culture. He talked about the importance of protecting the land and how Indigenous people have the stories and power of their languages and traditions and culture to do this.
Kayden Denny hoop dances.
Louis showed a clip of his appearance in “The Ride,” a TV series featuring professional bull riders. It showed how he balanced his rodeo success and his life as a single father.
He talked about growing up and how he was encouraged to go after his goals and work hard to accomplish them. Louis was honored to present to the youth and told them to push forward and persevere in any direction they want to.
“It’s huge, heart fulfilling thing for myself, I mean I know I was that kid at one point, sitting there listening to someone speak that may have done a lifelong goal or was living their dream and it truly inspired me to be able to go after what I believed in and just knowing that it was capable,” he said.
“My message for the youth is just to make the best decision you can possible. Not only for yourself but for your family, and for your future. You know Creator, he put us on this world for a reason and it’s up to us to fulfill our own destiny. You know anything that’s going to hold you back is just going to make your life a lot tougher. You know, so just make them good decisions, do the best you can. Let God take over and you know you will surprise yourself on just how far you can go,” said Louis.
Lorena Horse, Sacred Circle Healthcare executive officer.
Lorena Horse, executive officer for Sacred Circle Healthcare, explained the goal of the conference.
“Looking at the physical pieces of making sure that we have the ability to take care of our bodies, the spiritual piece because we know that’s really important also in our communities to have strong families and a strong sense of identity and trying to hit all of those aspects and pieces so that we have a better chance of combatting any type of opioid illnesses or opioid epidemics that we have in our communities,” said Horse.
Sacred Circle Healthcare is a 638 clinic and is owned by the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation. They provide services to all tribal members of the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, as well as all the tribal members that live along the Wasatch Front. They also provide services to the underserved in the area.
Their Circle of Care model includes primary care, behavioral health, wellness program, dentistry, optometry, urology, physical therapy, podiatry, pain management, recovery program and dietary.
Game area for youth.
They started in 2012 and grew to five clinics and are looking forward to opening a sixth location soon. They employ over 250 employees.
Horse explained, as long as one is a tribal member they can use their services. If one doesn’t have a tribal identification or CIB they can still get care for up to 30-60 days, and they can also assist in getting those. Medicaid and Medicare are also accepted.
What she wants people to know about Sacred Circle Healthcare is they do their best to bring their tribal values into their clinic, even though they’re in the city they work closely with their tribal council and their board, which is primarily made of their tribal communities.
“So, hopefully we’ll get a chance to provide services to your tribal members and your family members and we look forward to taking care of everybody,” said Horse.
To find out more about Sacred Circle Healthcare go to https://sacredcircle.com/