Video

Cherokee Nation Medical Director Dr. Gloria Grim presents statistics about
cancer within the CN during the third bi-annual CN Cancer Summit on March 3 at
the Renaissance Hotel in Tulsa, Okla. (Photo by Jami Custer)


By Jami Custer
Staff Writer

TULSA, Okla. – Medical officials from the Cherokee Nation discussed cancer prevention and treatment at the tribe’s third bi-annual Cancer Summit March 3-5 in Tulsa’s Renaissance Hotel. 

The conference was regional, but people came from all over the United States to attend. It consisted of breakout sessions covering cancer survivorship, depression, support groups, men’s health, the human papillomavirus, contract health and cancer in Oklahoma and CN.

The summit gathered individuals within the medical profession and those interested in cancer prevention and treatment to discuss the latest statistics and news about the disease.

“We are putting on a cancer summit to help spread information, information to our health care providers, to survivors and to the community as a whole about cancer prevention and cancer treatment and trying to decrease some of the health disparities that exist between Cherokee Nation tribal citizens and the rest of the population as a whole,” CN Medical Director Dr. Gloria Grim said.

The University Of Oklahoma/Tulsa School of Community Medicine co-sponsored the event.

Mark Wilson, tribal liaison with OU/Tulsa School of Community Medicine, said the summit filled a need for educating citizens by bringing in professionals within the medical field, including the CN, Indian Health Service, OU/Tulsa faculty, surgeons, doctors and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. 

“Getting together in this type of event, it just creates information and good flow,” he said. “I think the sharing of ideas and getting up to date on the latest statistics when it comes to cancer is just vital to not only providing a good quality health care setting for our citizens, but I think it’s important to for our professionals and providers that are here.”

He added that the summit gives them a chance to interact, network and share information they encounter on a daily basis.

Grim said the summit’s outcomes represent both short- and long-term goals tribal officials have. She said short-term goals were to ensure that physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants are more aware of cancers that CN citizens get, preventing those cancers and getting early screening, protection and proper treatment for those cancers.

“Long term what were really trying to do is create partnerships with places and people like the National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society and Centers for Disease Control to look at ways to decrease cancer rates in Cherokee tribal citizens and ultimately eliminate cancer,” she said.

Reach Staff Writer Jami Custer at (918) 453-5560 or jami-custer@cherokee.org