Title
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CHEROKEE NATION TRIBAL PARTICIPATION IN NATION-WIDE ELDER NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Body
WHEREAS, the Cherokee Nation since time immemorial has exercised the sovereign rights of self-government in behalf of the Cherokee people;
WHEREAS, the Cherokee Nation is a federally recognized Indian Nation with a historic and continual government to government relationship with the United States of America;
WHEREAS, Long-term care, a category that includes health promotion, home health services, personal care, housekeeping assistance, meals on wheels, skilled nursing care, assisted living, and other in-home services, is an emerging unmet need in Indian Country; and,
WHEREAS, The University of North Dakota National Resource Center on Nation American Aging has been awarded a grant through the Administration on Aging, Department of Health and Human Services, to study the nation's health and social needs of Native elderly; and,
WHEREAS, The survey project is designed to yield data on the following Native elder health care needs:
· General Health Status
· Activities of Daily Living
· Visual, Hearing and Dental
· Tobacco and Alcohol Use
· Nutrition, Exercise, and Excess Weight
· Social Support, Housing and work
WHEREAS, The University of North Dakota National Resource Center on Native Aging are asking Tribes throughout the nation to volunteer to participate in a partnership arrangement in which the University and the Tribe will each assume responsibilities:
What the University of North Dakota will provide:
· Survey instruments
· Assistance in sampling
· Training in interviews
· Consultation with interviews via email or telephone
· Data entry and analysis
· Data storage
· Production of tables and comparisons with national statistics
What each Tribe will provide:
· A Tribal Resolution documenting participation in the Native elder social and health needs assessment project
· A list of elders to interview
· Interviewers or volunteers to conduct the survey
· Interpretation of the results with local input
· Development of recommendation for actions
· Dissemination of the results to tribal leaders and health officials
WHEREAS, Copies of the frequency tables along with the national comparison report derived from the needs assessment will be returned to the tribal council and to the tribal contact person; and,
WHEREAS, The confidentiality of enrolled members and Tribal data is of the utmost importance; therefore, the date for this survey will be collected anonymously by tribal members with the data stored at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences within a locked file cabinet file cabinet and destroyed after a period of three years.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CHEROKEE NATION, hereby authorized participation in the "Identifying Our Needs: A Survey of Elders" Native elder social and health needs assessment project and grants permission to the University of North Dakota National Resource Center on Native American Aging to use all collected data under the auspices of this project in aggregate format for the purpose of disseminating state, regional, and national results from analysis of the data. Further, be it resolved that the specific data collected within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation belongs to the Cherokee Nation and may not be released in any form to individuals, agencies, or organizations without additional tribal authorization.