If we are real with ourselves, then we must admit that all of us have work to do in the fight for health equity. Especially when so many communities are heavily laden right in front of our eyes. The spouse of a patient I recently took care of said it best when he stated that to have good health was everything. Just as our health influences our outlook on life, our worldview also impacts our well-being.

My community lies within the boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation. The majority of the staff of the tribal hospital located in the community is not Native American. According to the United States Census Bureau (2023), Oklahoma is home to the highest per capita percentage of Native Americans in the country at 14.2%. With such a prevalent Native American presence, why is it that Oklahoma ranked disgracefully poor in providing adequate health care to its Native American population, according to a recent report (The Commonwealth Fund, 2024)?

The Commonwealth Fund report (2024) indicated the need to address the internal and external systemic challenges leading up to the poor health outcomes for Native Americans. One of the internal challenges I’ve noticed in my experience working in a tribal hospital is that there doesn’t seem to be a dog in the fight, per se. It’s almost as if it’s normalized and acceptable for my Native American people to have subpar care and extremely subpar health. Campbell (2025) suggests that healthcare providers be part of the solution to mitigate bias through participation in implicit bias training. This could prove to be a means to put the dog in the fight, because if the bias were eliminated, maybe then healthcare providers could see the world through the Native American perspective to be able to address the external challenges that are ever-present, such as survivance in a world that chooses to ignore their presence. Opening our eyes is part of our responsibility in this fight for equity.

 

 

References

Campbell, C. N. (2025). Healthcare inequities and healthcare providers: we are part of the problem. International Journal for Equity in Health, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-025-02464-9

The Commonwealth Fund. (2024, April 18). Advancing Racial Equity in U.S. Health Care:The Commonwealth Fund 2024 State Health Disparities Report. Retrieved September 22, 2025 from https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2024/apr/advancing-racial-equity-us-health-care

US Census Bureau. (2023, November 1). A look at the largest American Indian and Alaska native tribes and villages in the nation, tribal areas and states. Retrieved September 22, 2025 from https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/10/2020-census-dhc-a-aian-population.html#:~:text=Over%2077%25%20of%20the%20Alaska,%25)%20and%20Florida%20(4.6%25).