24 Sep Overcoming distrust of West, one tribe in Wisconsin is partnering with UW for health care

By Frank Vaisvilas, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Stories are still told in tribal communities of how U.S. Army personnel and other government agents would distribute blankets later found to be laden with smallpox to Indigenous peoples in the 1700s and 1800s.

The purpose of this, elders say, was to continue the genocide of Indigenous peoples already devastated by diseases brought from Europe.

These historic injustices continue to fuel distrust among Indigenous peoples toward Western institutions.

As a result, University of Wisconsin health officials were pleased when the leadership of one tribal community in northern Wisconsin recently agreed to meet about the possibility of signing up tribal members for clinical health trials. The entire tribal council for the Sokaogon Mole Lake Ojibwe Nation visited with health professionals at UW-Madison Sept. 11 and 12 to help build a cooperative relationship between the tribe and the UW Health system. Read more…