Speaker 1: Good pony, good money, good morning. Welcome, welcome, welcome. It's
Speaker 1: time now for our community connection right here on K one.
Speaker 1: The one you trust and standing by patiently is the
Speaker 1: principal chief of Cherokee Nation, Chief Chuck Hoskin Junior. Welcome.
Speaker 1: How you doing, Tom?
Speaker 2: I'm doing well yourself.
Speaker 1: I'm going to try this, Oh CEO. Is that correct?
Speaker 2: He nailed it? Man here right up with me now.
Speaker 1: Well, Cherokee Nation has been bustling because I got a
Speaker 1: long lust here of things that we really need to cover.
Speaker 1: First of all, I know that there are a lot
Speaker 1: of people looking for jobs or maybe looking for what
Speaker 1: you call another job, perhaps a better job. And that's
Speaker 1: something that you've got going on down in Tulsa, don't you.
Speaker 2: We do. It's the first time we've done it at
Speaker 2: this location, that is Greenwood Cultural Center. So what's going
Speaker 2: on as a career event as well as a contractor event.
Speaker 2: So we are large employer, Tom. We've got about fourteen
Speaker 2: thousand employees worldwide the ball co from here north east Oklahoma.
Speaker 2: We're always hiring on our business side or a government side.
Speaker 2: So we're just bringing some human resources staff out to
Speaker 2: the Greenwood Cultural Center. From ten am to two pm,
Speaker 2: so that folks who are interested can look for that
Speaker 2: job or at least get in our system. So it's
Speaker 2: all electronic and so you can set up aile profile
Speaker 2: to do that. The other thing is we're doing a
Speaker 2: lot of construction. You and I've talked about this a
Speaker 2: lot on this show. A billion dollar construction portfolio. A
Speaker 2: lot of that is far into the completion phase, but
Speaker 2: there's still a lot more to do. One of the
Speaker 2: things we've got to do is try to get contractors
Speaker 2: local where we're building. And so at North Tulsa we're
Speaker 2: building a two million dollar community center, which we'll break
Speaker 2: ground on here in a few months. We've got about
Speaker 2: two million dollars worth of housing planned, along with some
Speaker 2: other partners coming up. And so we just want to
Speaker 2: make sure that folks out there that are contractors, vendors,
Speaker 2: all sorts of folks that could do business with the
Speaker 2: Chairy Nation can do business with the Chag Nation. Ten
Speaker 2: am to two pm, three twenty two, North Greenwood Greenwood
Speaker 2: Cultural Center in Tulsa.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's great. It's going to be an interesting set
Speaker 1: up there. Imagine you're gonna have a lot of folks
Speaker 1: I hope, so Chernky Nation, you have a one million
Speaker 1: dollar public Health and Wellness Partners program going on. Tell
Speaker 1: us about that.
Speaker 2: Well, that's a way to help small towns and even
Speaker 2: larger towns, even cities that are within the reservation, public schools,
Speaker 2: and nonprofits with primarily capital investment that supports wellness. So
Speaker 2: I'm talking about you know, your local park, Tom that
Speaker 2: the town may want to improve and maybe they need
Speaker 2: to put some dollars together. We want to help them
Speaker 2: with that. Maybe the school, as many schools do, serve
Speaker 2: both the students, but it also serves you know, the
Speaker 2: little league after school, and they've got a ball field,
Speaker 2: they need to fix that up. We want to be
Speaker 2: helpful there. We want to be helpful with that nonprofit
Speaker 2: that maybe operates some kind of a facility that maybe
Speaker 2: serves elders and nutritious meal. Maybe it's your Senior Citizen
Speaker 2: Center and they need to do some capital improvement. We
Speaker 2: want to be there for the long haul. During ARPA,
Speaker 2: those ARPA funds that came down, we shared a lot
Speaker 2: of that. We talked about that on your show a
Speaker 2: lot of time. I mean, I would guess forty fifty
Speaker 2: million dollars we shared we've got to keep doing that.
Speaker 2: ARPA is gone, but we got to keep doing that
Speaker 2: because it's just the right thing to do. And so
Speaker 2: we're taking a portionable color Public Health and Wellness Funds,
Speaker 2: which is a million dollars for this purpose. People can
Speaker 2: go on our website, Cherokey dot org and find out
Speaker 2: more about it Public Health and Wellness phw H at
Speaker 2: Cherokee dot org. We'll get that website for your wether.
Speaker 2: We'll get that email adress for your website corrected, and
Speaker 2: so folks can reach out.
Speaker 1: I see you're extending your Artist Recovery Act to help
Speaker 1: Cherokee artists. I've had to do with some of the
Speaker 1: lag that took place during the pandemic.
Speaker 2: That's right. So coming out of the pandemic, one of
Speaker 2: the concerns we had was not purely economics, but partially economics,
Speaker 2: but as it related to something that's more important, which
Speaker 2: is our culture, our life ways and perpetuating those and
Speaker 2: that's in the hands and the hearts and minds of
Speaker 2: our artists. And a lot of them are elders, and
Speaker 2: even if they're not elders, they took it on the
Speaker 2: chin economically during COVID as many many people did, but
Speaker 2: they took it on the chin in terms of accessing
Speaker 2: streams of commerce to sell their art, they took it.
Speaker 2: They had it tough in terms of not being able
Speaker 2: to teach classes like they used to to, particularly young
Speaker 2: people coming up that want to learn art ways the communities.
Speaker 2: So what did we do. We put initially three million
Speaker 2: dollars in to buy art, just buy art, but also
Speaker 2: give them some tools to access modern streams of commerce,
Speaker 2: you know, using digital tech anology to do that, or
Speaker 2: just paying for them to be able to go out
Speaker 2: to art markets across the country. And then we also
Speaker 2: funded a lot of art classes that helped them get
Speaker 2: back into the classroom and get students back into the classroom.
Speaker 2: Talk about community art classes. That's helped. It's meant we've
Speaker 2: helped sustain them economically. We put another million dollars in
Speaker 2: that time, and we extended the law through the end
Speaker 2: of twenty twenty six because we've got some more to
Speaker 2: do in terms of lifting them up. The good thing
Speaker 2: is is when it's all said and done, Tom will
Speaker 2: have hundreds and hundreds of art pieces created by Cherokee artists,
Speaker 2: great artists that'll be owned in the perpetuity by the
Speaker 2: Cherokee people, held by the government of the Cherokee Nation,
Speaker 2: placed in some of those facilities that we're building.
Speaker 1: Wonderful. Now, you know this is a big deal about
Speaker 1: this time every year, but boy does it go fast.
Speaker 1: You just wrapped up your heirloom seed bank and we
Speaker 1: had the councilwoman Dora spent Vatskowski telling this that it's
Speaker 1: a it's kind of a crowd that gets into the
Speaker 1: portal trying to get those seeds. How well did it
Speaker 1: go this year?
Speaker 2: Well, we did it different this year. We did it
Speaker 2: as a as a random draw, and so we think
Speaker 2: it'll go. We think it a little better in terms
Speaker 2: of you know, I guess I guess you could say fairness.
Speaker 2: I mean, not everybody. You know, it's like you know this,
Speaker 2: you've probably been on the receiving end of this through
Speaker 2: your career time. But you know many of us would
Speaker 2: call the local radio stration trying to be the fifth calling,
Speaker 2: you know, to get to win a to win a prize,
Speaker 2: so so you know, or get up early and make
Speaker 2: the phone call. So rather than do that, we wanted
Speaker 2: to do a random draw. You sign up on our
Speaker 2: doogie portal and get chosen for the seeds thing. It's
Speaker 2: going to go well because I think it's going to
Speaker 2: spread it across the population across the country doing something
Speaker 2: else tho time, We've got a lot of community organizations
Speaker 2: and cancer Patkowski's helped develop some of those organizations, including
Speaker 2: one in Dewey Uh. There's an example of an organization
Speaker 2: that if they chose to, they could get a special
Speaker 2: batch of these seeds to grow as a community. We
Speaker 2: got to find ways to spread the joy and the
Speaker 2: interest in this subject. There's a huge demand and one
Speaker 2: of the ways we can do that is having people
Speaker 2: share their seeds, and so community organizations sharing their seeds
Speaker 2: is a way to at the end of the year
Speaker 2: is a way to do that. Now, Tom, I try
Speaker 2: to grow every year. Sometimes I do good, sometimes I
Speaker 2: don't do good. Last year I had like two years
Speaker 2: of corn, so I kept them all for seeds. I'm
Speaker 2: I'll try to grow those again, so we'll see it.
Speaker 1: Now. This is great. The story behind this is that
Speaker 1: these seeds come right, they come from long before the
Speaker 1: trail tears.
Speaker 2: That's right. We've done genetic Yeah, we've done genetic testing
Speaker 2: on these to determine the origins, or at least to
Speaker 2: take it back. You know a few centuries that coupled
Speaker 2: with oral traditions. You know, stories that have been handed
Speaker 2: down and other evidence shows that these seeds were with
Speaker 2: us before removal. So it's a great connection. It's a
Speaker 2: great cultural connection. Does something else, Tom, which is, you know,
Speaker 2: we can't all grow our own food to support our
Speaker 2: families in this modern era, but we can do things
Speaker 2: to think about and teach, particularly our kids and other
Speaker 2: young people in our lives, where food comes from and
Speaker 2: the scarcity of food that can happen and why it's
Speaker 2: important to have some control over your food. And you
Speaker 2: can't have that control if you don't have knowledge. And
Speaker 2: so there's another reason to do that. There's lots of
Speaker 2: reasons to try to grow food and to share that knowledge,
Speaker 2: both historical, cultural, and just sustaining ourselves.
Speaker 1: Wonderful program. Wonderful Program. Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. Is our guest,
Speaker 1: and he is the principal chief of Cherokee Nation. You
Speaker 1: made an announcement this week regarding the Health Work Group.
Speaker 1: What's going on with this?
Speaker 2: Well, from time to time in our health system, there
Speaker 2: are some issues that kind of percolate to the top,
Speaker 2: and there were of sort of formally studying. And so
Speaker 2: three issues have come up, particularly through our council in
Speaker 2: the past. You know, six seven months. One of telemedicine, now, Tom,
Speaker 2: during the pandemic, there was an increase in telemedicine across
Speaker 2: this country, and many of your listeners, maybe you certainly
Speaker 2: I participated in telemedicine. Telemedicine personally. Now, that's not going
Speaker 2: to cut it for every type of health care visit,
Speaker 2: but it can help in some visits and in some occasions,
Speaker 2: and it can't help spread access to healthcare. So here's
Speaker 2: the question, what can we do to increase access to telemedicine,
Speaker 2: particularly Tom, when you think about the fact that we
Speaker 2: have hundreds of thousands of Cherokees living across the country.
Speaker 2: Can there be a future in which we have telemedicine
Speaker 2: for them. Well, we can't do it if we don't
Speaker 2: study it. So that's one thing we're studying. The second
Speaker 2: thing we're studying is dialysis. Now, dialysis, Tom, anybody who's
Speaker 2: dealing with you know, die be these things of that nature,
Speaker 2: UH is going to unfortunately at some point maybe need
Speaker 2: dialysis because it could be some kidney issues that you're
Speaker 2: dealing with, and that's a really you know, difficult process
Speaker 2: to go through. We don't do a lot of that directly.
Speaker 2: We do that for our inpatient system, but not our
Speaker 2: outpatient system. So council members said, look, can we study
Speaker 2: ways to expand that for Cherokee citizens. We're going to
Speaker 2: look at that. The third is Medicare. Now, health insurance
Speaker 2: is important for everybody, tom everybody qualifies for Medicare A
Speaker 2: when you get of age, and Tommy, you and I
Speaker 2: aren't there yet, So I am okay. So tom you
Speaker 2: may be are in house expert, but you know, Medicare
Speaker 2: A is the basic plan. There's Medicare B, C and D.
Speaker 2: That's a range of benefits and sometimes it's difficult to understand.
Speaker 2: So helping our patients understand that, particular elder patients who
Speaker 2: are just now uh, you know, understand trying to understand
Speaker 2: the world of Medicare. And then are there ways that
Speaker 2: we could financially support these patients. We don't know, But
Speaker 2: again we don't know if we don't study it. So
Speaker 2: those are three issues we're studying. We believe in taking
Speaker 2: a hard look at issues and getting to a conclusion
Speaker 2: at the chair condition. So that's what we announced recently.
Speaker 1: All right, very good.
Speaker 2: Now I.
Speaker 1: Took a little trip. I do this every now and then,
Speaker 1: usually for a funeral. I got to run back and
Speaker 1: forth between here and Indiana. But my goodness sakes, you
Speaker 1: have a beautiful, nice facility right off the big highway
Speaker 1: there in Benita, the Cultural Center. That is really something else.
Speaker 2: That is a great facility at the point of pride
Speaker 2: for many of us. It was something that my wife,
Speaker 2: our first Lady January, encouraged us. Now people would say, well,
Speaker 2: probably didn't hurt Cheese, that that was your hometown. That's
Speaker 2: probably true. But here's the deal, Tom. You were driving,
Speaker 2: and I think I've made many trips in Vienna's wife
Speaker 2: family's from. But you know, you're going up the interstate
Speaker 2: and you see something you could take your family to
Speaker 2: or as a personal interest. If you can get off
Speaker 2: the interstate pretty efficiently and some have a good time
Speaker 2: like that, you're going to do it. Well, that's where
Speaker 2: Benita is. You know, it's right on the Root sixty six.
Speaker 2: It's right off I forty four. And this facility is
Speaker 2: something my wife said, Look, we ought to spread Cherokee
Speaker 2: culture throughout northeast Oklahoma and also try to connect with
Speaker 2: the millions of travelers coming across Oklahoma on the interstate.
Speaker 2: Pull them off the interstate, have them learn something about
Speaker 2: a Cherokee culture. And that's what you can do at
Speaker 2: the Anna Mitchell Cultural Center. I mean, if you exit
Speaker 2: off I forty four time and take it right you're there, man,
Speaker 2: Oh you.
Speaker 1: Right there, data section of sixty six and forty four.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're right there. That's right, my goodness sake. I
Speaker 1: would invite you folks if you if you have the
Speaker 1: time to do that, please do that or just make
Speaker 1: a day of it. It's really worth your time and
Speaker 1: your effort absolutely alrighty Now, if folks have questions about
Speaker 1: especially Cherokee citizens, you have a website. It's a portal
Speaker 1: that kind of takes you just about anywhere you need
Speaker 1: for a wide range of services.
Speaker 2: What is that, Yes, the god Doogi Portal. So people
Speaker 2: go to Cherokee dot org and click on god Doogie
Speaker 2: portal g A d U G I has got to
Speaker 2: do you Cherokee works for working together. You can access
Speaker 2: sort of your citizen interface with the nation. So when
Speaker 2: we're talking about that feedbank that's where you go. And
Speaker 2: if you go to that website. You know, I fumbled
Speaker 2: around earlier when I was trying to think of the
Speaker 2: email address to our public Health and Wellness Partners grant.
Speaker 2: But if a person just goes to Cherokee dot org,
Speaker 2: you don't have to worry about the Chief messing up
Speaker 2: an email address. Says hey, it's all right there, Tom.
Speaker 1: Hey, Chief, thank you for being with us. I know
Speaker 1: you're a busy, busy guy, but I really appreciate the
Speaker 1: time you spend with us here at K one.
Speaker 2: You got Tom, take care, Take care.
Speaker 1: What