Title: Public Health Training Certificate in American Indian Health
Location: Cheyenne River Sioux (Lakota)
Hau, Jordyn Gunville emaciyapi. Mnicoujoc Oyaté kstó. Eagle Butte, South Dakota hecia wahi. Hello, my name is Jordyn Gunville and I am of the Mnicoujoc people (a band of the Lakota) from Eagle Butte, South Dakota. I am an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe located in rural Ziebach County, South Dakota.
Biography
Jordyn Gunville-Pourier is currently working as a Research Associate with the Center for American Indian Community Health at the University of Kansas Medical Center and is pursuing her PhD. She received her Bachelors in Applied Behavior Science with a Minor in Sociology from the University of Kansas in 2015 and continued on to obtain her Master in Public Health from the University of Kansas Medical Center in the Spring of 2018.
Gunville-Pourier’s long term long-term professional goals in public health are to address the gaps in health disparities and the social determinants of health in underserved populations, specifically American Indian communities
“As an American Indian born and raised on an Indian reservation with limited access to health care and food, inadequate educational and employment opportunities, and regularly exposed to suicide, violence, substance abuse, and environmental health issues, I have first-hand knowledge and real-life experiences of the factors and conditions that contribute and lead to health disparities in underserved populations. My personal experiences and background provide me with baseline knowledge on how to reach underserved populations, the most efficient ways to gap health disparities among American Indian populations, and the importance of using culturally appropriate and community-based approaches.“
Since the completion of the Public Health Training Certificate for American Indian Health Professionals, she says it provided her with further insight and understanding of how to use the public health methods in a real-life setting. She also stated it will help prepare her for when she returns home to help improve health disparities in her own community and other American Indian Nations.