{"id":53,"date":"2015-06-08T18:59:38","date_gmt":"2015-06-08T18:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/?p=53"},"modified":"2015-06-08T18:59:38","modified_gmt":"2015-06-08T18:59:38","slug":"indian-health-service-seeks-two-spirit-input-to-improve-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/?p=53","title":{"rendered":"Indian Health Service Seeks Two-Spirit Input to Improve Services"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/rainbow-2s-flag.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-55\" src=\"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/rainbow-2s-flag-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"rainbow 2s flag\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/rainbow-2s-flag-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/rainbow-2s-flag-53x53.jpg 53w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a>(WASHINGTON, DC) Indian Health Service (IHS) is seeking broad public input as it begins efforts to advance and promote the health needs of the American Indian\/Alaska Native (AI\/AN) Two-Spirit community members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIHS is taking an important step to better serve the healthcare needs of the\u00a0Two-Spirit community. In comparison to other racial\/ethnic groups, Native people suffer from glaring disparities in health-related resources and outcomes. Specifically, morbidity due to violence and substance use is higher and overall mortality is greater. Those who identify as LGBT-2S face additional stressors associated with negotiating their dual oppressed statuses,\u201d said Dr. Karina Walters of the University of Washington\u2019s Indigenous Wellness Research Institute.<\/p>\n<p>The goal of this information gathering is to gain a better understanding of the health care needs and challenges of Two-Spirit individuals so IHS can implement health policy and health care delivery changes to improve and advance the health care needs of the Two-Spirit community. The agency is seeking to increase community access to and engagement with IHS leadership and secure a legacy of transparent, accountable, fair, and inclusive decision-making specific to Two-Spirit people within IHS.<\/p>\n<p>IHS requests public comment on several key dimensions of the health needs of the Two-Spirit community, including but not limited to the following questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are there effective models and best practices surrounding the health care for the Two-Spirit community that should be considered for replication? Please include rationale for their use in the IHS service population.<\/li>\n<li>What are the specific measures that could be used to track progress in improving the health of Two-Spirit persons?<\/li>\n<li>How can IHS better engage with stakeholders around the implementation of improvements?<\/li>\n<li>Are there gaps or disparities in existing IHS services offered to Two-Spirit persons?<\/li>\n<li>What additional information should the agency consider while developing plans to improve health care for the Two-Spirit community?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Comments must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on July 6, 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Electronic responses are encouraged and may be addressed to <a href=\"mailto:lisa.neel@ihs.gov\">lisa.neel@ihs.gov <\/a>or written responses sent to:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Indian Health Service<\/strong><br \/>\nAttention: LGBT Feedback<br \/>\n801 Thompson Avenue<br \/>\nSuite 300, Rockville,<br \/>\nMD 20852<\/p>\n<p>For more information here is the link to the US Federal Register\u2019s Notice of Request for Information: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/articles\/2015\/06\/05\/2015-13774\/notice-of-request-for-information#h-6\">https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/articles\/2015\/06\/05\/2015-13774\/notice-of-request-for-information#h-6<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(WASHINGTON, DC) Indian Health Service (IHS) is seeking broad public input as it begins efforts to advance and promote the health needs of the American Indian\/Alaska Native (AI\/AN) Two-Spirit community members. &ldquo;IHS is taking an important step to better serve the healthcare needs of the&nbsp;Two-Spirit community. In comparison to other racial\/ethnic groups, Native people suffer <a href=\"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/?p=53\">&#8230;Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions\/56"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}