Cherokee Nation Chief Says Robust Healthcare System, Quick Action Key to Controlling Virus Spread

Cherokee Nation Health Services is increasing its use of telemedicine to help reduce the potential spread of COVID-19. Each Cherokee Nation health center now uses telemedicine technology for primary care services and some specialty services including pediatrics, women’s health, behavioral health and infectious disease. The tribe also began offering teledentistry appointments this week.

The new four-story, multi-million dollar Cherokee Nation outpatient health center, set to open in phases Oct. 21, is located on the W.W. Hastings Hospital campus in Tahlequah. The new faciltiy will offer critically needed health services to hundreds of thousands Cherokees and other tribal members.  

The Cherokee Nation is the first U.S. tribe to be invited to deposit their heirloom seeds in Norway's Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The so-called Doomsday Vault opened in 2008 with the goal of safeguarding the world's food supply in case of global disaster. The Cherokee Nation will be depositing nine seed types in the bank, which now holds more than a million crops.

The Cherokee Nation and Rogers State University Public TV launched their first televised Cherokee language learning course this week. The telecourse consists of 48 episodes, each about 50 minutes long. They air at 1 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday on RSU Public TV. The lessons are also available online.

The Cherokee Nation is searching for five-foot tall, iron boundary markers put in by the U.S. General Land Office in the mid-19th century. The survey monuments were used to designate the boundary between the Cherokee and Creek Nation territories after both tribes were pushed into what is now Oklahoma. The markers are just as important now as they were then since they trump later land surveys.