Experience on Native American reservations?

[cowboyhugbees]

Hi everyone;

I'm an OMS-I, and I've been pretty heavily considering the Indian Health Service as a possible option for residency or future practice.

Everything from the website sounds all well and good, but I was wondering if there are any physicians out there who have had experience working on Native American reservations, and perhaps would be willing to share some of their thoughts.

Thanks!

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[smq123]

Moving to Public Health Service and Indian Health Service forum.

 

[gofer]

Hi everyone;

I was wondering if there are any physicians out there who have had experience working on Native American reservations, and perhaps would be willing to share some of their thoughts.

Thanks!

Hmm, do you really want to live on one of our reservations? I don't think so.

First off, even a moniker like yours "cowboy.." will get you into trouble on a reservation.

Go to a REAL reservation only if you are super-super-super committed. Reservation life is horrible. The closest town may be several hours away. Sometimes the only way into a reservation is on foot or horseback. People live with no running water. There is often no electricity in homes. Temperatures are incredibly hot (120F) and the desert environment makes it feel worse. They gave us the worst land that no one wanted, nothing even grows on such land. Most people you encounter will be uneducated or on drugs or drunk. Almost everyone will hate you (and with good cause too!). There are gangs who will try to kill you - these are pseudo gangs patterned after real gangs by Natives who act Black. Rape of native women is very common. 86% of the rapes are by non-Indians. If you are White, some of these non-Indian people will try to rape your wife and daughters too. Your sons will get into fights with people who try to join the pseudo gangs, guaranteed. There is no entertainment and you will not be welcome at our events. Your family will have no friends. Your family will have no social life. Your children will get the most pathetic education. Your intellectual stimulation will be zero. Your patients will value the advice of an uneducated Medicine Man over you, guaranteed. All of us Indians will be highly suspicious of you (and with good cause again). You won't make any friends among us AT ALL. Most likely you will run away at the first chance you get. Now, if you don't run away, we will notice. And we will keep observing you. If you are for real, we will welcome you like a brother. But that happens very rarely, almost never. Because doctors don't treat us like human beings. At least I haven't met a reservation medical person like that.

America's inner cities are better than our reservations, guaranteed.

Most doctors will be better off and happier serving in Vietnam, Palestine, India, or some other God-forsaken region than on a reservation. But if you are super-super-super committed despite all the downsides I have listed, I would encourage you to serve on our reservation because we can certainly use good-hearted doctors.

I won't be checking this thread again, so if you have any questions, message me.

 

[montessori2md]

PITA troll.

I'm not personally aware of any residency programs that are entirely IHS, though there are several that rotate through IHS hospitals/clinics, the way that many folks rotate through the VA system.

Explore the NHSC posts here, there are several scholars who served w/ IHS and had good experiences, to summarize their points:
1) You have to be able to tolerate red tape and bureaucratic BS. It is, after all, a government job.
2) Benefits are fantastic, particularly the pension. Funny though, a lot of folks don't stay long enough to collect that full pension. Pay is great for primary care, pretty low for specialties, compared to private practice, and it goes up w/ time.
3) The people are amazing. Oh, you'll see domestic violence, EtOH, drugs, etc, but the people are amazing.

The majority of IHS jobs are in Navajo Nation territory. If you are working deep in the res, the housing is usually government housing (I'm not sure exactly how rent/utilities work w/ that). The upside is, you don't hunt for a place to stay, or have to drive long distances b/c you don't have tribal permission to live on the res. You live next door to a bunch of your coworkers, which could be a plus or minus. If you have a family, they'd need to be ok w/ living basically in the middle of nowhere. That said, IHS has clinics and hospitals in more urban territory (santa fe, abq, phoenix, and outside of the SW).

There are programs for you to rotate w/ IHS via COSTEP (USPHS internship), and as far as I know, they are still funded, which means you get paid to go. Duration is 30+ days. More info is on the USPHS website.

 

[Dartmouth2005]

Hmm, do you really want to live on one of our reservations? I don't think so.

First off, even a moniker like yours "cowboy.." will get you into trouble on a reservation.

Go to a REAL reservation only if you are super-super-super committed. Reservation life is horrible. The closest town may be several hours away. Sometimes the only way into a reservation is on foot or horseback. People live with no running water. There is often no electricity in homes. Temperatures are incredibly hot (120F) and the desert environment makes it feel worse. They gave us the worst land that no one wanted, nothing even grows on such land. Most people you encounter will be uneducated or on drugs or drunk. Almost everyone will hate you (and with good cause too!). There are gangs who will try to kill you - these are pseudo gangs patterned after real gangs by Natives who act Black. Rape of native women is very common. 86% of the rapes are by non-Indians. If you are White, some of these non-Indian people will try to rape your wife and daughters too. Your sons will get into fights with people who try to join the pseudo gangs, guaranteed. There is no entertainment and you will not be welcome at our events. Your family will have no friends. Your family will have no social life. Your children will get the most pathetic education. Your intellectual stimulation will be zero. Your patients will value the advice of an uneducated Medicine Man over you, guaranteed. All of us Indians will be highly suspicious of you (and with good cause again). You won't make any friends among us AT ALL. Most likely you will run away at the first chance you get. Now, if you don't run away, we will notice. And we will keep observing you. If you are for real, we will welcome you like a brother. But that happens very rarely, almost never. Because doctors don't treat us like human beings. At least I haven't met a reservation medical person like that.

America's inner cities are better than our reservations, guaranteed.

Most doctors will be better off and happier serving in Vietnam, Palestine, India, or some other God-forsaken region than on a reservation. But if you are super-super-super committed despite all the downsides I have listed, I would encourage you to serve on our reservation because we can certainly use good-hearted doctors.

I won't be checking this thread again, so if you have any questions, message me.

Not right. PM if you want info on rez life.

I am 1/2 Indian, worked for and against Indian tribes, and can answer your questions.