2001 UW AMC Dean's Report

Tribal Connections, a project sponsored by the UW and the National Library of Medicine, is helping 16 Northwest Native American tribes bridge the digital divide. The program assists with computer network and telecommunications equipment purchases and training in the use of electronic health information. Getting online is just one part of addressing health-care disparities in underserved Native American communities.

“No matter who you are or where you live, you should have access to information,” said Nancy Ottman Press, consumer health coordinator for the Pacific Northwest Regional Medical Library based at the UW.

The Tribal Connections program seeks to make its services compatible with the American Indian and Alaska Native communities in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. The program has expanded to include some Southwest Native American tribes.

Girls line up for a Native dance competition at a Spokane reservation pow wow. The Tribal Connections program was founded to assist Native American tribes access electronic health information, including training and purchasing equipment.

“It’s important that we have the community make the decisions and that they tell us what their needs are,” said Roy Sahali, Tribal Connections project manager. “Often our program serves as a catalyst to unite different community interests.”

Communities’ needs run the gamut from physically laying cable for Internet access to Web site development training. Many of the tribes already had an established computer system; it was just a matter of getting everyone working toward the same goal. When a tribe already had Internet capabilities, the Tribal Connections presented training in conducting basic Internet searches, using e-mail or participating in online discussion groups.

Tribal Connections even helped set up perhaps the first virtual tribe. The members of the new tribe share a common ancestry but have no common land. Tribe members now communicate via e-mail.

At a Tribal Connections information booth, a Native American girl listens to her friend’s heartbeat. The display located behind the girls, featuring computers and the World Wide Web, outlines the outreach program of the National Library of Medicine and Tribal Connections.

Most important, Tribal Connections trains community members to become comfortable enough with computers to be able to teach other community members. Press, Sahali and others in the program are drawing on years of experience working in underserved communities. They believe the key to success is how Tribal Connections empowers people and communities to develop their own abilities. When purchasing computers, the tribes chose the computers and purchase them from the vendors.

“As librarians we are perceived as teachers and this is perhaps less threatening than government officials,” said Press. “We make it clear that we are not going to just come in, write up a report and walk away. We are interested in working as a team to help them come up with a sustainable plan.”

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is supporting efforts to bridge the digital divide on Indian reservations by providing equipment, training and support for public access computing and the Internet. With better access to the Internet, Native Americans living in rural communities, where obtaining medical care can be challenging, benefit from increased dissemination of health-care information. The foundation gift will allow tribal communities throughout the American Southwest and West to more easily find information that can improve health and enhance quality of life. The Tribal Connections Project is a collaboration between the UW Regional Medical Library and the National Library of Medicine.