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Santee Tribe Health & Wellness Center Success Story: Multiple Initiatives

Santee Tribe Health & Wellness Center (Nebraska): Access to healthy foods and beverages; promotion of physical activity; diabetes prevention; and heart disease and stroke prevention with Health Promotion App

The Santee Health & Wellness Center (Health Center) implemented multiple initiatives through its 2020-2021 Good Health & Wellness award. The purpose of this health education and prevention activity was to both educate and bring awareness to intervention and cessation resources. The target community is the residents who live on the Santee Sioux Indian Reservation. This 2020-2021 Good Health & Wellness project was in collaboration with 11 Tribal Advisory Council members with a reach of approximately 1,500 individuals. This program approached all its all work “utilizing a [self-determination theory] approach that emphasized the importance of self-management skills necessary for life long behavior modification sustainment.”

The Health Center was successful in implementing the following efforts:

  • In August 2020, the Health Center began collaborating with the Native Reach section of KAT Marketing on a social media health education platform. This collaboration involved many communication planning meetings, and the Health Center worked with the Tribal Chairman to complete the required legal agreements. The Health Center then developed the app’s content, which included the services and programming offered by the Health Center. The app launched in March 2021, and at the end of this grant year, the app had over 1,200 screen views. The Health Center uses the app, as well as other communication strategies like newsletters and social media platforms, to notify community members of health and fitness activities.
  • The Health Center built upon the successes of Year 1 and promoted activities through the social media app. The program designed sidewalks around its facilities for walking, jogging, or recreational use. This year, community members were invited to snap selfies of themselves using the sidewalk and post them on social media as part of a “Healthy Selfie” contest.
  • The Health Center used its social media presence to promote the continued work of Coach Rozy, a local fitness leader providing in-person and virtual fitness classes to the community for chronic disease prevention efforts.
  • The Health Center used social media to further promote other activities: the multidisciplinary mobile team that provides cardiovascular and stroke prevention education in the community. The team offers blood pressure readings at fun wellness-centered events sponsored by the Health Center, such as a handball tournament.

“Our team feels that the increase in community based partnerships had the most influence on the Santee community, as the collaborative project efforts resulted in multiple entities sharing and educating on the same efforts- together- thus communicating one united strong message over the summer.”

Health Center Staff

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