We are proud to bring to the Native American community a new era of healthcare not only in the physical sense - with new buildings and facilities and technology - but in the philosophical sense as well. We are committed to setting in motion a new era of healthcare; one that will redefine the standards by which we have both received care and cared for ourselves.
The accompanying image is the current operating hours of the Absentee Shawnee Tribal Health System as of January 3rd, 2024.
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Testimonials
My health is top priority. My needs are always meet. I feel I can express my feelings and be heard. I really appreciate it.
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Marijo
The AST Clinic is top tier in service. They have quality medical professionals that talk and explain things in an understandable way. For sure 5 stars!!!!
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Anonymous
I love the fact that the wait times aren't that long. They seem to stay on schedule and its easy to get a same day appointment. Jackie the women's health provider is easy to talk to and very informative. Over all it's always a great experience and would recommend this clinic to anyone looking to change their doctor.
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Melissa
As many of you know, the Little Axe Clinic opened to patient care on April 30 of this year. During the past couple of months since the clinic opened, we have had numerous compliments on the building but many complaints about the lawn. Most of the complaints are about the tall grass and weeds. Right now, we are unable to do anything with the grass and weeds due to the contract we have with the company who placed the landscaping around the clinic.
Following the grand opening of our extraordinary Little Axe Health Center, there are some equally important changes happening to the way we will be delivering care throughout the AST medical clinics. Rest assured that like the new building, these changes are aimed squarely at providing increasingly better patient care. One new initiative is appropriately named Improving Patient Care (or IPC for short.)
IPC was developed by the Indian Health Service (IHS) to fundamentally transform the quality of care it provides. While the IPC model is uniquely designed to improve the problems in Indian Health clinics, this approach is based on the best practices of the health care quality improvement field. Started under the leadership of former CEO Gary Wabaunsee and continued by the leadership of head clinical administrator and interim CEO Beverly Felton, our clinical staff has begun training and implementation of this exciting IPC model.
While the effects of IPC generally start small and expand gradually, there are a few changes that you should expect to see in the next few weeks to months at our medical clinics…
Prescription drug abuse is on the rise, not only in Oklahoma but around the entire United States. Oklahoma leads the nation in both prescription painkiller abuse and related deaths. Native Americans in Oklahoma are at the same level as the general population when it comes to prescription painkiller abuse and deaths. Painkiller abuse and related deaths are highest among Whites and Native Americans, about three times higher those of Blacks and Hispanics. Because of this abuse and related deaths due to prescription painkillers, the Absentee Shawnee Tribal Health Board of Directors voted at their recent monthly meeting to approve the pharmacy department request to stop the practice of mailing narcotics to out-of-state addresses.
Women’s health services have been added to the Public Health Nursing department at the Little Axe Health Center. Jackie Odell, APRN, CNP and Misty Clouse, RN have been added to provide complete preventative and disease care for women of all ages. Jackie, the Nurse Practitioner, sees patients Monday through Friday 8:00AM to 4:30 PM.
Preventative care includes pap smears, mammography, breast exams, rectal exams and education for healthy living. Sexually transmitted disease education, STD testing and treatment are also provided. Other medical services provided include treatment for abnormal and/or painful menstrual cycles, postmenopausal disorders, and hormone replacement.
We've freshly redesigned the AST Health System website. It's still a work in progress, but we hope it will soon be providing you with news you want to see and information and tips to improve your health. If you have feedback, good or bad, let us know.
Aerobic activity or "cardio" gets you breathing harder and your heart beating faster. From pushing a lawn mower, taking a dance class, or biking to the store – all types of activities count. Try doing them at a moderate or vigorous intensity for at least 10 minutes at a time. (150 minutes per week recommended)How do you know if you're doing light, moderate, or vigorous intensity aerobic activities? For most people, light daily activities such as shopping, cooking, or doing the laundry doesn't count toward the guidelines. Why?
Your body isn't working hard enough to get your heart rate up.
Moderate-intensity aerobic activity means you're working hard enough to raise your heart rate and break a sweat. One way to tell is that you'll be able to talk, but not sing the words to your favorite song. Vigorous-intensity aerobic activity means you're breathing hard and fast, and your heart rate has gone up quite a bit. If you're working at this level, you won't be able to say more than a few words without pausing for a breath.
As part of an effort to create healthy places in Oklahoma to live, work, learn and play, the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH), along with the Oklahoma Academy, The State Chamber, and the Oklahoma Turning Point Council announced the annual award winners for the state Certified Healthy Oklahoma programs. This year, more than 570 applications were submitted from groups throughout the state, and over 480 award winners received the “Certified Healthy” status in the categories of Certified Healthy Businesses, Certi-fied Healthy Restaurants, Certified Healthy Schools, Certified Healthy Campuses, and Certified Healthy Communities. An awards ceremony honoring the winners was held in March.
The Absentee Shawnee Tribe was awarded as one of the Not-for-Profit Businesses for Oklahoma Certified Healthy Business. Accepting the Certified Healthy Oklahoma award at the March Awards Ceremony were our Wellness staff: Sacha Almanza and Sidna McKane. Other tribal organizations were also awarded the Certified Healthy Oklahoma.
Criminals who plot to defraud the Government and steal money from the American people have a new target: people with diabetes.
Although the precise method may vary, the scheme generally involves someone pretending to be from the Government, a diabetes association, or even Medicare, calling you. The caller offers "free" diabetic supplies, such as glucose meters, diabetic test strips, or lancets. The caller may also offer other supplies such as heating pads, lift seats, foot orthotics, or joint braces, in exchange for the beneficiaries' Medicare or financial information, or confirmation of this type of personal information. Additionally, you may receive items in the mail that you did not order.
The call is a scam.
If you receive such a call, OIG recommends the following actions:
As of January 1, 2012, Oklahoma State Law mandates a current photo ID is required for EVERY time ANY controlled medication being picked up.
Both Shawnee and Little Axe pharmacy locations both fill prescriptions for members of all tribes, but outside prescription orders are restricted to Absentee Shawnee Tribal citizens with established charts.
If you would like to receive a text message to your cell phone when your medications are ready for pick-up, please alert the pharmacy staff and provide us with a current cell phone number.
The following are a few tips to help us be more efficient in our delivery of pharmacy services to you:
Present insurance cards each time you pick up or drop off a prescription
Keep us informed of changes in address, phone number and other contact in-formation.
Let the Pharmacy staff know if the prescription is going to be picked up or needs to be delivered.
The grand opening of the new clinic at Little Axe was a huge success. Our guest speakers were Absentee Shawnee Gov. George Blanchard and IHS Area Director Kevin Meeks. We were also blessed to hear the Shawnee language spoken by tribal elder Isaac Gibson, Sr. He opened up the grand opening with a prayer in his native language. We also had the Absentee Shawnee Tribal Veteran’s Association raise the flags and the Scissortail Drum group performing. Thank you to these two groups who made the day even more special. Other special guests were representatives from the AST Health Board of Directors, the Norman Police Departments, Nabholz Construction Company, BancFirst, Childers Architects, and ADG Project Management Group. We also had visitors from the tribe, local businesses, members from other tribes’ health programs, and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Thank you to everyone who came out to make this day very special not only to the employees of the health program but to the Absentee Shawnee Tribe.
