By Media Relations Department
Chickasaw Nation Media Relations Office

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently awarded Oklahoma with $4.25 million in funding to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities among minority populations.  The award is part of the CDC's Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) initiative. The funding was awarded to the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) Chronic Disease Service, which is one of 40 organizations selected from 22 states across the country.

Along with the Indian Health Care Resource Center of Tulsa, the project's eight tribal partners include the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, Cherokee Nation, Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, Chickasaw Nation, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and Wichita and Affiliated Tribes of Oklahoma.

The focus of the REACH US project is to promote physical activity, healthy eating and smoking cessation to aid in the prevention of diabetes and heart disease.

The award for the new REACH US grant will ensure the continuation and increased availability of physical activity and awareness activities to reduce racial disparities in diabetes, heart disease and other risk factors on a community level.

The funding will allow the Chickasaw Nation to provide ongoing events and educational opportunities, as well as encourage resource sharing and marketing of other tribal and area-wide programs and services to Native Americans and the community.

The Oklahoma REACH US project partners will begin to mentor new REACH projects and assist other tribes and organizations with program development and evaluation.

The Chickasaw Nation REACH US program anticipates enrollment for new participants to begin following a six month project planning and appraisal period to begin in January 2008.

For more information on the Chickasaw Nation REACH 2010 program, contact Lea Caufield at (580) 310-9661.