A Medicine Warrior: Dr. David Baines

TC:  So we have the Indian Health Board and we have the various committees. Who do you see as kind of the leadership group for Native American health and Alaska Native health?

DB:  Well, I think it's kind of all split up. I think certainly the National Indian Health Board, from the tribal standpoint, is the biggest voice, with the National Tribal Chairman's Association and National Congress of American Indians health committees being in there too. But I would say for health lobbying the National Indian Health Board is probably the biggest.

TC:  Are they supported by IHS?

DB:  They are. They can get some other grants and stuff to help, but pretty much they’re supported by IHS.

TC:  What about, within IHS, what's the value and the importance for the docs and the users of health information resources, either hard copy or online? Is that something that's really coming on the radar screen?

DB:  Computer access has really massively changed that. When I first was in practice on the reservation, we had none. We didn't have any computers. There was no local access. Everything would have to be long distance, so it was economically unfeasible. And then with time as the Internet progressed, and came out into the rural communities, like even in Tooksook Bay, Alaska, it wasn't the best access because you'd get cut off a lot and it was pretty slow, but we had up-to-date computers and programs and I could communicate with the rest of the world. I could get a lot of information off of the Internet. So that's been a huge plus. And the National Library of Medicine and a lot of the universities that support those programs have made a big effort to have access.

TC:  Do you think prescribing health information could possibly be a remedy for wellness? Do you see that as something to tell a patient about?

DB:  There are 500 and some cultures and native tribes, and they'd have to be pretty well suited so the patients could understand it. The difference between Native culture and Western culture is in Western culture you're individually oriented, you've got individual rights, and you see yourself as the center of the universe, everything is around you. But you have group goals, like world peace. We're exactly the opposite. We're group oriented and if I say "How are you? Where are you from?" I want to know what tribe they are, what clan they are, who are your parents? We identify with our tribe, our family. We have individual goals. It's not important to us; it's not our job in life to make world peace. It's our job to be the best human being that we can – the best dad, the best mom, the best son, the best daughter, the best worker.