Background:
Beginning in 1999, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
began providing funds to the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS),
through an Arizona Cooperative Agreement, to provide for the delivery of primary
care support services to Arizona’s Native American population. In April of 2000,
an MOU was entered into between the three Indian Health Service (IHS)
Area Offices (Navajo, Phoenix, and Tucson), HRSA, and ADHS resulting in the
contribution of additional resources by IHS to ADHS. These services were
contracted with the Arizona Association of Community Health Centers (AACHC)
to co-fund a staff position within AACHC to supplement this activity.
The Native American Community Development Program (NACDP)
was based out of the AACHC from 2000-2004 thus establishing relationships with
many of the Native American communities and providing advocacy, coalition
building, education, and support services to them. Currently, the AACHC has 11
clinics within the Association that are either tribal clinics or clinics that
serve significant populations of Indian people.
Due to the government-to-government nature of the work and the need to emphasize
capacity building at the tribal and urban Indian community level, ADHS retained
the funding within ADHS for the purpose of establishing a staff position
responsible for the direct management and service delivery. In December 2005 the
new NACDP manager was hired.
The work previously done by the AACHC set the stage for further community
development opportunities and will persist to be built upon by the ADHS. Both
the AACHC and the ADHS continue to share a beneficial and productive
relationship and work together to promote primary health care in Arizona’s
Native American communities.
Advisory Council:
As part of the NACDP an Advisory Council is established that is represented by
one representative of ADHS, one representative from each IHS Area Office
(Navajo, Tucson, and Phoenix), one representative from an Urban Indian Health
Program, one representative from a Tribal Health Program or clinic and one
representative from the AACHC.
The advisory council meets quarterly to provide guidance in reaching the goals
of the NACDP. The advisory council members are appointed by their respective
agencies and nominated or recruited by the NACDP. Current advisory council
members are:
Navajo Area Office - Jenny Notah
Phoenix Area Office - Michael Joseph
Tucson Area Office - George Bearpaw
Arizona Department of Health Services - Michael Allison
Association of Arizona Community Health Centers - Tara McCollum-Plese
Urban Indian Representative - Dana Russell
Tribal Representative - Vacant
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