Rita Hillman Foundation Grant to support Native American health care in the Black Hills

A $50,000 grant from The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation will help to identify the health care priorities and needs of the Lakota community in Rapid City, while working with the Woyatan Lutheran Church and the Wambli Ska Teen Center to develop a culturally responsive, trauma-informed program to train and support community health workers.

Mary Isaacson, an associate professor in the College of Nursing, and Tiara Ruff, a mentor in the College of Nursing’s Native American Nursing Education Center, will lead the project, “Designing a Trauma-Informed Community Health Worker Intervention to Address Indian Social Invisibility and Health Inequities.”

The project will center around a community needs assessment to identify American Indian priorities, needs and challenges when seeking health care services. The assessment will help create a community-centered plan and create a more equitable system of health care.

The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation works to improve the health and health care of all people, especially groups and communities who experience inequity, discrimination, oppression and indifference. The foundation’s goal is to help ignite and develop interventions and a vibrant ecosystem of nurse innovators, grantees and partners dedicated to building a healthier, more equitable future for all.

Grants were also awarded to the University of Chicago, University of Washington, Duke University and Marquette University. Together, the projects at each university will work to launch a diverse set of programs throughout the United States to provide more effective, equitable and culturally congruent models of care for Native American, Latinx and African American communities.