Nike Supports Native American Wellness

Nike Supports Native American Wellness

By Jill Glomstad

Approximately 2.5 million Americans—about .9 percent of the population—identify themselves as American Indians or Alaska Natives, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. While there are more than 560 federally recognized tribes, those who claim Native American descent share an unfortunate bond: higher-than-average rates of some chronic health conditions, including diabetes, and lower-than-average life expectancy.

The high incidence of diabetes in the Native American population was what first piqued Nike employee Sam McCracken's interest. According to the American Diabetes Association, diabetes is an epidemic in this group. Native Americans are 2.2 times more likely to have diabetes than non-Hispanic whites.

"I had a general idea that diabetes was very prominent in the Native American community due to some conversations I had had with the health director of my tribe," recalled McCracken, a member of the Ft. Peck tribes (Sioux and Assiniboine tribes). McCracken spoke to his superiors at Nike, and in 2000 the company launched a diabetes prevention program aimed specifically at Native Americans.

Since then, McCracken, now Nike's manager of Native American business at Nike world headquarters in Beaverton, OR, has overseen the development of several initiatives designed to promote health and fitness in the Native American population. In recognition of his contributions, McCracken this year won the company's prestigious Bill Bowerman award, named for Nike's co-founder. McCracken's contributions to the Native American community include work on several programs.

Diabetes Prevention

"One in three members [of this population] has some form of diabetes," McCracken explained. After a few conversations with his own tribe leader, he realized that Nike could lend visibility and recognition as well as Nike products to diabetes initiatives within American Indian communities.

Diabetes program participants can access Nike products at wholesale pricing to facilitate the fitness aspects of their health programs. According to McCracken, the tribal diabetes programs were looking for incentives that would get more people into the programs. In 2002, Nike received an award from the National Congress of American Indians for the program.

"[The program] brings together Nike's business structure and the tribal community structure," he added. "We now work with 72 tribes that have direct access to our product."

Collaboration with the Indian Health Service

In 2003, Nike and the Indian Health Service signed a landmark memorandum of understanding to work together on promoting healthy lifestyles and healthy choices among American Indians and Alaska Natives. McCracken believes the agreement, some seven to eight months in the making, is the first such relationship between the government and a for-profit company.

"[This collaboration] lends our brand to those communities to promote physical activity," said McCracken.

One platform for that promotion was a train-the-trainer event held at Nike's world headquarters, Feb. 11-12. McCracken reported that 85 fitness leaders from Native American reservations in Oregon, Washington and Idaho came to the event to learn new knowledge and strategies to implement fitness and nutritional programs for their communities. Dr. Charles Grim, IHS director, now wants to expand the train-the-trainer program to all 12 regions within the IHS.

Nike will also participate in the IHS's Indian Health Summit in Washington, DC, in September. The summit will coincide with the grand opening of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington during the same week. "This is very exciting because of the number of people who will be there and be made aware of the health disparities that exist in the Native American community," said McCracken. "This [will be] a big week for our Native people."

Basketball Invitational

2003 marked the first annual Native American Basketball Invitational, with Nike as a major sponsor. The tournament invites boys and girls teams affiliated with Native American tribes across the country. "Basketball is very important to the native community," McCracken explained. "But these kids are mostly from rural areas. How many recruiters are traveling out there to find them? [NABI] put together this tournament to showcase some of the top Native talent in the U.S. for both recruiters and the general audience."

The first tournament, which took place in July 2003, featured 12 boys' teams and 12 girls' teams. In the 2004 tournament, which took place last week, 24 boys' teams and 26 girls' teams participated.

NikeGO

The NikeGO program was launched in 2002 as a nationwide grassroots effort to increase physical activity in children and adolescents. One of the major initiatives of the program is a partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America to supply funding, product and resources for after-school activity programs.

In collaboration with IHS, Nike selected six Boys and Girls Club sites to participate in the NikeGO program. Each site receives a $25,000 product grants, a program evaluation and training in the SPARK curriculum. SPARK (Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids) and Nike developed a program that includes a research-based curriculum, equipment, staff development and follow-up support.

McCracken, who is a board member for Boys & Girls Clubs on Native lands, said Nike plans to expand the program participation from 6 to 25 clubs within the next fiscal year.

Additional Programs

Nike also has collaborated with the Office of Indian Education Programs to create a sales program that enables schools to seek Nike bids and purchase Nike products at wholesale cost, similar to the diabetes prevention program. Nearly 200 Native American schools throughout the country participate.

For 10 years, Nike has sponsored WINGS of America, a program fostering leadership, self-esteem, cultural pride and wellness in American Indian youth through running. Nike provides financial and product support and serves as a sponsor for training programs for running coaches, program workers and athletes.

In conjunction with this support, Nike in November 2002 provided a $50,000 grant to refurbish the running track at Sequoyah High School in Tahlequah, OK. Sequoyah was started by the Cherokee Nation in 1872 as a school for Cherokee orphans of the Civil War. The school is administered by the Office of Indian Education as one of eight off-reservation boarding schools for Native Americans. The school currently serves well over 300 students representing more than 20 tribes from 10 states.

Sequoyah, whose track team won the 2001 WINGS National Championship, has opened the new track for community use and hosts track meets for area feeder schools.

For more information:

Nike: www.nike.com, www.nikego.com

The Native American Basketball Invitational: www.nabi2003.com

WINGS of America: http://www.world.std.com/~mkjg/Wings.html

The Indian Health Service: www.ihs.gov

The National Museum of the Native American: www.nmai.si.edu

SPARK: www.sparkpe.org

Jill Glomstad is on staff at ADVANCE. She can be reached at jglomstad@merion.com

Another article by another paper on wolf death

Drug suspected in wolf’s death
Reaction to recalled heartworm medication linked to 600 dog deaths among possible causes

By SAMMY FRETWELL

Staff Writer

A drug linked to the deaths of dogs across the country may have killed a rare red wolf that federal wildlife managers were counting on to help save the endangered species.

One of just a few hundred red wolves in the world, the young adult female died at a Charleston nature preserve last month after the members of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service injected it with a heartworm-prevention drug that since has been recalled.

A Clemson University autopsy report released last week did not pinpoint a reason for the death, but the report said the wolf might have died from heat stroke or a reaction to the heartworm medicine, ProHeart6.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Sept. 3 recalled ProHeart6 after receiving more than 5,000 reports of side effects in pets, including bleeding, vomiting and death. The agency’s recall, citing reports of “unexplained” adverse reactions to the drug, urged veterinarians not to use the medicine for dogs until further study is completed.

Fort Dodge Animal Health, which produced the drug, was unable to assess whether ProHeart6 could have killed the wolf, but the company maintains few dogs have bad reactions to the medicine. Wolves and dogs are closely related biologically.

Nonetheless, biologists at the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, where the wolf died, will stop using the drug on wolves, refuge manager Matt Connolly said. Connolly said he was unaware of concerns about ProHeart6 before the wolf received a shot. The wolf died Aug. 25, more than a week before the recall.

“We didn’t find out it had been recalled until after,” Connolly said of ProHeart6.

ProHeart6 prevents heartworm in canines for up to six months. Since receiving federal approval in 2001, it has been touted as an easier way for pet owners to protect their animals from heartworms because only two shots are needed each year, as opposed to monthly medication.

That’s why the Fish and Wildlife Service injected a family of wolves last month in preparation for their release into the wilds of Bull Island at the Cape Romain refuge.

But hours after injecting the wolves with ProHeart6, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists found the female dead in her pen. That left two pups without a mother and the male without a mate.

Federal biologists had planned to release the wolf family from a temporary holding pen as part of a program to help the species rebound. The remaining wolves have not been released, but federal officials expect they will be.

The federal red wolf program is important, biologists say, because the shy animal is one of the world’s most endangered species, numbering no more than 300. Red wolves are Southern cousins of gray wolves found in the West but are smaller, with a reddish tinge to legs, heads and ears. Red wolves almost became extinct in the early 1900s because of hunting and habitat loss.

For more than 15 years, the government has released mating pairs of red wolves at Bull Island to raise pups in the wild. The program has allowed young wolves to learn survival skills before being transferred to the government’s main red wolf recovery site, a wildlife refuge in northeastern North Carolina.

In recent years, however, the Fish and Wildlife Service had trouble getting wolves to mate at Bull Island, so officials were excited when the young female produced pups this spring.

Clemson’s autopsy report says that while there was not conclusive evidence of the cause of death, a reaction to the drug “cannot be excluded from consideration in this case.” The report goes on to say the “significance of the treatment must be evaluated.”

The report, however, also said heat stroke could have killed the red wolf. The animal struggled and panted heavily after wildlife managers captured it in a pen. After the injection, it lay on the ground for up to 45 minutes before a veterinarian injected it with the stimulant epinephrine to revive the animal. Later in the day, the animal was found dead.

Clemson University animal pathologist Pam Parnell declined to discuss the autopsy she conducted.

Bud Fazio, the wildlife service’s red wolf recovery coordinator, could not say this week how many wolves have been injected with ProHeart6 at zoos andrefuges across the country, or how the agency would proceed in those areas.

Connolly said other red wolves, including the female wolf’s mate and two pups, had been injected at Cape Romain without any adverse reactions. The refuge also has several animals it keeps in captivity.

The FDA had given signals for two years that the medicine posed hazards to some animals, records show. A July 22, 2002, letter from the manufacturer to veterinarians said a new warning label would be added to ProHeart6 about adverse reactions. One concern was cardiac arrest.

Up to 600 dogs treated with ProHeart6 have died, the FDA said last week.

Rami Cobb, a veterinarian with Fort Dodge Animal Health, said she did not know how the drug could have affected a wild animal, such as a red wolf.

“I am no expert on wolves,” she said, “but I am really grieved to hear we have lost any animal, especially an endangered species.”

Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537 or sfretwell@thestate.com.

 

For Those who wish some links

The Pet Guardian info and Reddy's survivor story

Pets.ca - Bulletin Board - Death in dogs after Proheart 6 shots

Fort Dodge to Comply with FDA's Request to Recall Proheart 6 Injectable Heartw

Important Drug Information about ProHeart® 6

CBS4: Could your pet be in danger? An I-Team investigation

CBS 2 Chicago: For Your Pet's Sake

Charleston.Net: News: State/Region: Heartworm drug may have killed endangered

It is a frightening thought, the innocent killing of our brother animals. This battle to keep dogs alive and stop the use of Proheart 6 has been ongoing for a couple of years now, but thanks to all the Ancestors for hearing my prayers, the drug has been pulled for now.

I wrote a letter to Ft. Dodge and to the VLS vet board saying that although they may "no longer conduct studies and tests on animals prior to releasing a new drug, they now seem to be testing when they put it on the market." (on animal or human!)

The FDA site has warnings sent as early as 1999 to Ft Dodge about the contamination of their drug production methods. They sent repeateded warnings.

If this is what Wythe would do with their animal drug production, how careful are they with their production of the human drugs?

CheyFire

Heart Worm drug kills Red Wolf

http://www.charleston.net/stories/092004/sta_20redwolf.shtml

Story last updated at 7:04 a.m. Monday, September 20, 2004

QUOTE:
Heartworm drug may have killed endangered red wolf
Associated Press COLUMBIA--A report on the death of federally protected red wolf suggests a heartworm-prevention drug may have led to the adult female's death.The medicine, ProHeart 6, has been recalled by the Food and Drug Administration after reports of negative side effects in treated dogs.The rare red wolf that federal wildlife managers at a Charleston nature preserve were counting on to help save the endangered species had been injected with the drug last month by members of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.The Clemson University autopsy report did not pinpoint a cause of death, but said the wolf might have died from heat stroke or a reaction to the heartworm medicine.Fort Dodge Animal Health, which makes ProHeart 6, was unable to assess whether the drug could have killed the wolf, but the company maintains few dogs have bad reactions to the medicine.Biologists at the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge where the wolf died will stop using the drug on wolves, refuge manager Matt Connolly said."We didn't find out it had been recalled until after," Connolly said.
END QUOTE     

 

For those of you who may not be aware of all the fighting about the Pro Heart 6 heart worm injection and the fact the FDA has demanded the recall of the drug, I need to share this with the Native community.

On my other site I have mentioned almost losing my Italian Greyhound dog, Reddy, to the Pro Heart 6 injection. His reaction was within 24 hours and almost killed him several times before the drug cleared his system six months later.

After my vet finally called the Ft Dodge/Wyeth company and made an FDA adverse drug reaction report, I became aware of the actual  number of deaths that resulted from the use of this canine drug, and that the FDA had been sending written warnings to the company with reprimands concerning drug contamination during production.

Now it has killed a brother wolf. If you would like more information concerning the investigation of the Pro Heart 6 injection for canines to protect against heart worms let me know and I will post the various sites or send you more information. Thanks.

CheyFire