“We realized that good health goes beyond the individual. It must include the health of the entire community including its culture, language, art and traditions, as well as the environment in which it exists,” explains Jerry Simone, chief executive officer of United Indian Health Services (UIHS) for the past 30 years.

UIHS is a private, Indian owned, non-profit organization that currently provides out-patient health care for 15,000 Native Americans and their families in Northern California’s Del Norte and Humboldt Counties. UIHS recently built the Potawot Health Village to integrate individual, community, and environmental health. Consequently, Potawot grounds have been restored to enhance wetlands and prairie habitat, grow food and native plants, and to provide space for traditional ceremonies.

The story of the Indian community in this region has shaped Potawot today. To understand UIHS and the evolution of the Potawot Health Village, Jerry points to a history that far precedes his arrival. During the westward expansion of the U.S., tribes in this region never signed ratified treaties with the government and were consequently denied the rights and land other tribes were granted. The discovery of gold in Northern California in the mid-nineteenth century brought an influx of European miners and settlers. Indians faced massacre, loss of land, marches to distant reservations, and placement in boarding schools.

Native leaders came together in the late 60s to rebuild and strengthen their cultural identity and traditions and confront challenges, including the delivery of health care. United Indian Health Services was formed at that time, and by the early 70s it had opened a health center on tribal lands of the Trinidad Rancheria in northern Humboldt County.

When UIHS first opened in 1974, there were only three federally recognized tribes with some 200 members combined in this stretch of Northern California. Today there are nine recognized tribes with over 15,000 members combined. Beyond its legal implications, tribal recognition has helped rebuild the foundation of native culture and resurrect native pride. UIHS board members have actively supported this cultural renaissance, reviving dance, art and story-telling, promoting education in indigenous languages, and supporting efforts to teach indigenous knowledge and skills.

In the early 90s, UIHS was outgrowing its space and wanting to develop a facility that could meet health care needs in a more comprehensive fashion. Jerry and other UIHS leaders identified a 40-acre farm in Arcata situated on an ox-bow of Potawot – as the Mad River is also known – near several historic Wiyot tribal villages that had historically been used for hunting, fishing and gathering traditional foods and medicines. It was also adjacent to the Mad River Community Hospital, the major provider of in-patient services for UIHS patients.

The owner of the land was willing to sell, but the land was subject to development restrictions designed to preserve open space and agricultural use. UIHS worked with local design firm Humboldt Water Resources to develop a plan that included a conservation easement. With the easement, half of the 40 acres was dedicated to wildlife habitat and restored wetlands and prairie. The land could also be used for education, recreation, community events, growing food and medicinal plants, and for spiritual purposes. The other 20-acres was developed into Potawot Health Village, a comprehensive out-patient medical facility, incorporating traditional design elements.

The 20-acre conservation easement is overseen by a Conservation Easement Management Advisory Committee that includes tribal elders who guide UIHS staff in programming and restoration activities on the site, and ensures that health services and other uses of the land are integrated. In the words of Committee member Leona Wilkinson, “This garden and health village are not only a place for healing, but a place to remember the people who walked this land before us.”

Potawot provides comprehensive out-patient health care to Yuroks, Tolowas, Wiyots, Wylacki, Karuks, Hupas, and other American Indians from all over the United States that now live in the area. Medical services include complete ambulatory care, encompassing obstetrics, vision, dental, public and community health, nutrition, mental health, a pharmacy, and nationally recognized tobacco awareness and diabetes prevention programs.

Potatwot’s exterior concrete walls have the look and feel of the traditional redwood plank houses once common to coastal tribes. Interior walls are lined with regional native art and basketry. Glass-lined hallways look inward upon a central courtyard that features a rock garden and replicated spring. Restored wetlands and native grasses are beginning to flourish on other parts of the land, and gardens that provide traditional foods and medicinal plants are thriving.

Paula Allen is the traditional resource specialist for UIHS. Three generations of women in Paula’s family have served on UIHS’s board, which is made up of members elected by the community or appointed by the nine tribal councils. Says Paula, “Not understanding our history or being in connection with our spirituality is where a lot of our sickness comes from. It is rooted in those things. The historical trauma is a big part of what we’re working against at Potawot and what we are trying to educate folks about.”

Paula sees that the past also provides guidance for healing. “The idea for a healthy community, a balanced community, and a community where everyone had a place that was respected goes way back. We weren’t a perfect community. We always had issues that needed to be dealt with, but we also always had ways to restore things that came out of balance. We had a way to deal with things.”

“What we are trying to do at Potawot is help our community members heal. Traditionally, if somebody did something wrong there were specific laws and protocols that determined what needed to be done to make things right again. Hopefully, we can provide opportunities to promote wellness for our community, to find a balance between the responsibilities of the individual to the community and the community to the individual. We want a system that honors the values you would find in a traditional village, where you have to find your place and your role. I think that is a big piece of who we are.”

Paula’s job is to focus on the less tangible aspects of healing, drawing on Indian traditions. “We have a traditional health program now and we are working with traditional land management techniques. We are really trying to find ways, under the auspice of prevention, to support a space where folks can heal themselves. Getting folks out and working in the garden, or getting them out on the easement to walk or plant native plants, can change their consciousness of being a part of this world by connecting to the earth, and hopefully will create health. Getting away from the sedentary lifestyle and taking our children out with us to walk on the earth and play with the frogs and salamanders or gather tulle and have them make mats.” Paula teaches classes in traditional culture and arts, like tulle mat making. She plans to use book groups and films to broaden her reach in the community.

“There is a Navajo woman who worked with us back when we started 30 years ago, who visited us about a year ago to present at our annual board and staff meeting,” relates Paula. “She talked to us about making the choice to be a part of the healing tradition. She talked about how, traditionally, when a healer had a calling or a vision or a dream to become a healer, they didn’t just jump right into it. There was a lot of council and a lot of praying about that commitment, because when you become a healer you no longer are just there for yourself. You have to open yourself up to helping other people. She said to our Board of Directors and our staff, ‘I want all of you here today to know that you are part of that healing tradition and that the work you are doing is important for supporting our communities.’”

Paula draws a lot on inspiration from the women who have worked to create Potawot over the years. “This place has been guided almost exclusively by the women of our community – our mothers, grandmothers and aunties. It is their commitment to providing healthcare for their people that has given this organization such a strong foundation, and has given us the heart and spirit to support our work. They deal with the day-to-day politics, but they don’t let that get in the way of making decisions that support their vision for creating and supporting a healthy community. They don’t make decisions based on what is best for them. They really make decisions based on what is best for all of us, what is best for the Village.”

“We are honored that this village concept can be a model for other communities in creating spaces that promote and support wellness, both for native and non-native communities,” says Paula.

“The exciting thing for me is having the opportunity to continue the work passed to me by all those grandmothers and grandfathers. My generation works to honor the past and prepare for our future generations. I hope that my daughter will be part of a strong and supportive community that provides her the opportunity to be healthy. I hope that she won’t have to get diabetes before she starts making positive changes for her health.”

Says Paula, “At Potawot, we honor the work of all those who came before us by learning to live in balance with our surroundings and with respect for the beauty of life given to us by our creator.”

Contact
Potawot Health Village
United Indian Health Services
Jerry Simone,
Chief Executive Officer
707.825.5000
www.uihs.org