March 23, 2007, Duluth, MN The University of Minnesota Medical School’s Center of American Indian and Minority Health (CAIMH) today learned that it has been awarded a $70,000 grant by the Otto Bremer Foundation, based in St. Paul, MN. Distributed over a two-year period, the grant will support programs that encourage Native American medical students to integrate cultural knowledge with western medicine.
Joycelyn Dorscher, M.D., Director of CAIMH, thanked the Foundation and explained that the grant will help continue some programs that may have been eliminated because of the dramatic impact of the loss of federal funding. “We appreciate foundations like Otto Bremer that have seen that they can make an impact educating Native American students to return to their communities, deliver culturally-sensitive medicine and, ultimately, improve the health of the underserved Native American population,” she said.
Commenting on their award decision, Kaying Hang, program officer for Otto Bremer Foundation, reflected on the organization’s mission, which is to assist people in achieving full economic, civic and social participation for the betterment of their communities. “In examining the needs of the Center,” Hang said, “we recognized that we can contribute to both educational needs and health needs in a way that will make a difference for these medical students and the people they will ultimately serve in Native American communities.”
The Otto Bremer Foundation provides funding for projects and programs that fit the trust agreement as written by Otto Bremer for communities in Minnesota, North Dakota, and northwestern Wisconsin.
The Center of American Indian and Minority Health was created to encourage American Indians to enter careers in health care. With offices on both the Duluth and Twin Cities campuses, the center is one of four Native American Centers of Excellence nationwide devoted to preparing American Indian physicians to address health disparities in American Indian communities with culturally-sensitive medical care. In 2007 the Center lost more than one million dollars in federal funding because of Title VII and other federal program budget cuts.
PHOTO: Dr. Joycelyn Dorscher instructs medical student, Jean Howell, as they examine American Indian community elder Warner Wirta. Wirta volunteers as a patient as Native American medical students learn how to integrate cultural knowledge into classic western medicine.
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