Wakanyeja—the word for “child” in the Lokota language, means “sacred gift” – a beautiful description for the children on the Ft. Peck reservation in Montana.
Dorothy Stubbe, MD, Associate Professor in the Child Study Center and Program Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry training program, and Kristine Goins, a Chief Clinical Fellow, had the honor of launching psychiatric services to the children in the Ft. Peck Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP) School-Based Health Centers during a week-long trip to the Montana reservation January 15-20th.
This Yale Child Study Center-Native American collaboration was initiated by Eric Arzubi, MD, class of 2013, and Laine Taylor, DO, Assistant Professor at the Child Study Center, with Kenny Smoker, Tribal leader of HPDP, several years ago. Kristine and Dorothy braved the minus-15-degree weather for an extraordinary week on the reservation. They met with the school teams, evaluated a total of 15 children and youth in two schools, toured facilities and learned about the tribe’s remarkable plans for a Wellness Center. Hereafter, the follow-up and new psychiatric evaluations will be done via weekly telepsychiatry visits, along with HPDP-Yale team meetings.