CMC to revive Gathering of Wellness Powwow next week

It started as an answer to a job interview question in 2015, and next week, the Gathering of Wellness Powwow and Health Fair returns to the CMC grounds, across Highway 174 from the hospital campus in Grand Coulee.

Though in its fifth year, it will be the first time since 2019 that Coulee Medical Center has offered the free community event, co-presented by the Colville Tribal Health Program.

The powwow specifically began with the goal of improving CMC’s relationships with tribal communities, but everyone is welcome — and it makes for a great first powwow if you’ve never been, said Ramona Hicks, chief nursing officer.

As a powwow, visitors can look forward to traditional dancing (competitive and social), drumming groups, as well as art, craft and food vendors. Grand Entry is at 10 a.m., when the CCT Veterans Program’s honor guard will present the US flag, the eagle staff with feathers, the POW/MIA flag, and the Colville Confederated Tribes’ flag, before leading all the dancers in, starting with golden age elders all the way down to tiny tots. A free lunch of Indian tacos will be served between 11:30 and 1, thanks to event sponsors.

As a health fair, you’ll find booths representing CMC and tribal health programs, hospice care, behavioral/mental health, insurance companies, Grant Transit Authority and DSHS’s Mobile Community Service Office, where you can apply for benefits like food stamps and find out about other help available through the state.

There will be a vendor drawing at 2 p.m., and the Grand Exit concludes the event at 2:30. 

Hicks, who has been a member of CMC’s powwow committee since it began, said one key piece of powwow etiquette is to listen to the MC. He will share instructions and etiquette along the way, including when to stand or remove hats, when to not take pictures or video, which dances are open to all attendees vs. only registered competitors, and other protocols. 

CMC staff serving as powwow volunteers will wear clearly identifying T-shirts and are available for any questions visitors may have. No alcohol, drugs or weapons are permitted on or near powwow grounds, according to a flier.

Shoshannah Palmanteer is the clinic director at CMC, the powwow committee lead and an enrolled Colville member. It was her answer to the interview question back in 2015 that got the ball rolling on the powwow.

CMC has seen results from the outreach.

“It used to be I could count on one or two hands who [from the tribal community] worked here,” Palmanteer said. “Now it’s just kind of the norm.”

And one in three patients is from the tribal community, Hicks said.

“It definitely has changed the face of Coulee Medical Center,” she said.

While CMC does not track data on health outcomes for different racial groups, nationwide American Indians and Alaska Natives experience worse health outcomes than the general population.

One reason for this is historical trauma and distrust of medical systems, Palmanteer said. 

In the U.S. there is a history of forced sterilization and unethical experimentation on members of racial minority groups, and in particular, women from these groups. A U.S. General Accountability Office investigation in 1976 found that thousands of Native American women were subject to unauthorized sterilizations at the hands of Indian Health Service medical practitioners.

With all that history, Palmanteer wants her people to be able to feel safe receiving wellness or end-of-life care at CMC.

“It’s pretty awesome that my children get to dance at a powwow where two of my younger children were born,” she said. “Anytime I’m at a powwow, I feel at home.”