Public Health highlights cancer summit, USDA-funded meat-voucher pilot and June 17 wellness fair

Lisa Pivik, speaking for Cherokee Nation Public Health, told the committee the recent cancer summit at the Chota Center was well attended and that Secretary of State Bolan shared her story as the keynote speaker.

Pivik described a new farmers-market meat-voucher pilot targeted to elders and Cherokee citizens and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She said the meat-voucher benefit is separate from other farmers-market benefits, requires vendors to be licensed to sell meat, and that eligible participants will receive new benefit cards automatically if already enrolled; others can enroll via outreach teams.

Public Health staff are running multiple summer events, including a soccer camp, and continuing a summer-food program and community outreach through public-health nursing and community-health workers across the reservation. Pivik said teams are signing people up at events and that staff may enroll elders by phone.

On calendar items, Pivik confirmed a wellness fair on June 17 at OneFire Field from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., offering immunizations, screenings, the mobile unit, farmers-market signups (including WIC and smoking cessation referrals) and opportunities to enroll in local wellness centers; she said some vendor offerings (for example, ear acupuncture) would be confirmed closer to the event.

Committee members praised staff for the outreach efforts and the successful events; no formal action was taken on program policy during the meeting.