Native American Medicine Essay - 738 Words

Native American Medicine If you were in the desert or woods and bitten by a snake, where you go for help? A call to the local ambulance and a fast ride to the emergency room are not available to you. How would you know what potions to use and what would heal your wounds? This was the dilemma of the Native American People hundreds of years ago. How did they handle it? The medical traditions and customs have remained a mystery to us for hundreds of years. This paper will try to explore some of these customs and possibly uncover some of the mystery. Our life is an age of previously unimaginable medical breakthroughs. The technology we know today is one that emulated witchcraft to our great grand parents. Yet, with all that we can†¦show more content†¦St. Johns Wort, which is considered to be a natural Prozac was very common and widely available. It was use by Indians because of the calming effect it had on the central nervous system. All remedies were carried in a little satchel, called a med icine bag. This bag was filled with roots tied up in individual bundles with some order as to what items belonged together. The center of the Native American Heath care system was the medicine man. The medicine men were priests, magicians and healers who handed down their knowledge and customs from one generation to the next. Medicine men were considered wealthy; receiving many gifts of money and wild life if a sick person they treated became well again. They were required to be masters at their craft, much like the doctors of today. Knowing every song, every word and ritual in perfect tune and order was essential for success. Everything had to be perfect and correct in order for it to work. The medicine man ultimately disappeared when during a forty year period ending in 1934, the us government forbade the tribal role: anyone attempting to serve as a medicine man was to be imprisoned for no less than ten days or until such time as he could produce evidence, satisfactory to th e court, that he would forever abandon all such practices. (Dharmananda, 2000, P.3) In delivering modern nursing care while incorporating the beliefs and customs of the Native American, a nurseShow MoreRelatedNative Americans And Western Medicine1413 Words   |  6 PagesUnderstanding Native Americans and Western Medicine Essential Knowledge for Providing Culturally Competent Care to Native Americans Brittany Schelitzche Writing for Healthcare Hennepin Technical College â€Æ' Native Americans and Western Medicine: Essential Knowledge for Providing Culturally Competent Care to Native Americans Many Alaskan Natives and Native Indians, also known as American Indians, share the same or similar views on health and medicine. 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The story of Love Medicine revolves around a central characterRead MoreEssay on Alcoholism922 Words   |  4 PagesAlcoholism Alcohol consumption was initiated on reservations when traders in the nineteenth century started to offer it to oppressed and depressed Native Americans. Natives represent, in fact, the ethnic group with the highest degree of alcohol consumption in the United States. Confinement on reservations after displacement brought for Native Americans identity conflicts and assimilation problems. This situation promoted the abuse of liquor to mitigate the psychological pain inflicted by the dispossessionRead More Pocahontas and the Mythical Indian Woman Essay5406 Words   |  22 PagesPocahontas and the Mythical Indian Woman Pocahontas. Americans know her as the beautiful, Indian woman who fell in love with the white settler John Smith and then threw her body upon the poor white captive to protect him from being brutally executed by her own savage tribe. The magical world of Walt Disney came out with their own movie version several years ago portraying Pocahontas as a tan, sexy Barbie doll figure and John Smith as a blond-haired, blue-eyed muscular Ken doll. Although Disney