Tulsa and Cherokee Nation announced Wednesday they are combining efforts to improve healthcare access across the metro area over the next three years.
Mayor Monroe Nichols and Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. signed a memorandum of understanding at City Hall agreeing to develop a plan centered on “deploying a culturally relevant lung cancer screening initiative.” Oklahoma ranks among the worst in the nation for lung health, the American Lung Association reported last year.
“While we’ve made progress over the years, for many families, particularly in north Tulsa, access to preventative care has continued to remain out of reach,” Nichols said.
The funding from the Cherokee Nation — $375,000 over the three-year period — will go toward staffing the city’s Office of Health and Well-being and their outreach efforts, Hoskin said.
It will be “leveraged towards that idea that we want to be as healthy as we can be outside of going to the doctor or going to the hospital,” the chief said.
“What can we do to lead healthier lives,” Hoskin continued. “And what can we do to make that experience within the conventional healthcare systems even more impactful? Well, this office of well-being that the mayor is launching is going to help our citizens and all citizens.”
Both leaders said the signing represented their intention to improve outcomes across both tribal and greater Tulsa communities.
“From the Cherokee perspective, we see some of the numbers that our people are dealing with, and some of them are unfavorable,” Hoskin told reporters. “Too much hypertension, too much pre-diabetes and diabetes, obesity that is excessive.”
Those outcomes mean “collectively we’re not reaching our potential, and individually some lives are being cut short or the quality of life is low,” he continued. And that’s not just for members of the tribe, Hoskin explained.
“So anything we can do to increase knowledge of health, increase access to health, really encourage healthy lifestyles and some degree of prevention and catching diseases before they get out of control, is going to help all of us,” he said.
