"If you knew the conditions" : a chronicle of the Indian medical service and American Indian health care, 1908-1955 / / David H. DeJong

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910792028303321
• Autore: Dejong David N
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Lanham : , : Lexington Books, , 1955
• ISBN: 0-7391-3038-2
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (199 pages)
• Disciplina: 362.1089/97073; 362.108997073
• Soggetti: Indians of North America - History - Medical care - 20th century; Indians of North America - Health and hygiene - History - 20th century; Delivery of Health Care - history; Indians, North American - history; Health Services, Indigenous
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Tables; Acknowledgment; 1 ""If You Knew the Conditions""; 2 Organizing the Indian Medical Service; 3 Reform and Reorganization; 4 The Collier Years; 5 Trachoma and Tuberculosis; 6 A Justified Wave of Criticism?; 7 Into the Public Health Service; 8 ""If You Knew the Conditions""; Bibliography; Index
• Sommario/riassunto: "After their sequestering on reservations across the West, American Indians suffered from appalling rates of disease and morbidity. While the United States Indian Service (Bureau of Indian Affairs) provided some services prior to 1908, it was not until then that the Indian Medical Service was established for the purpose of providing services to American Indians. Born in an era of assimilation and myths of vanishing Indians, the Indian Medical Service provided emergency and curative care with little forethought of preventive medicine. If You Knew the Conditions argues that the U.S. Congress provided little more than basic, curative treatment, and that this Congressional parsimony is reflected in the services (or lack thereof) provided by the Indian Medical Service." "David H. DeJong considers the mediocre results of the Indian Medical Service from a cultural perspective. He argues that, rather than ; considering a social conservation model of medicine, the Indian Service focused on curative medicine from a strictly Western perspective. This failure to appreciate the unique American Indian cultural norms and values associated with health and well-being led to a resistance from American Indians which seemingly justified parsimonious Congressional appropriations and initiated a cycle of benign neglect. If You Knew the Conditions examines the impact of the long-standing Congressional mandate of cultural assimilation, combined with the Congressional desire to abolish the Indian Service, on the degree and extent of disease in Indian Country."--Jacket