歪歪漫画

I have a love-hate relationship with the health industry. I鈥檓 grateful as heck for my medical care, but really appalled at the exponential growth in the industry. It seems that virtually every old box building is being turned into a clinic, for diabetes, COVID, or something else. That鈥檚 not an indicator of well being.

Health care is a growing business, for sure. And, it turns out some of those who provide 鈥渉elp鈥� behave criminally in other arenas.

Let me explain: The Ojibwe word for hospital is Aakoziiwigamig, or the sick house 鈥� nothing said about getting well. We don鈥檛 want more sick houses; we want to be well. And, of course, when a horse lands on you, you want to see a doctor.

Growth in the health care industry is something which gives us security in rural areas, but it鈥檚 also an indicator of rising cancer rates, opioids, violence.

Earlier this month, Johnson & Johnson joined other pharmaceutical companies in a tentative $590 million settlement in the opioid disaster which has devastated this country, . That鈥檚 the settlement just for Native nations which have suffered disproportionately high addiction and rates from opioids peddled by Johnson & Johnson, and a few others. Minnesota鈥檚 settlement is somewhere around $300 million. People are still dying, every month here on the reservation.

Since 1999, there have been over 760,000 opioid related deaths in the U.S., . In 2019 alone, 70,630 people in the U.S. died as a result of an opioid overdose. Native Americans have endured disproportionately high opioid-related overdose deaths, by many metrics. In 2016, for example, the Oglala Lakota had an opioid-related death rate of 21 people per 100,000, more than twice the state average, according to the Times story.

Over the last few years, companies have faced opioid trials in several states, including Minnesota, and in a federal class action by tribal nations. In 2019, an Oklahoma judge ordered Johnson & Johnson, our vaccine provider, to pay $572 million for contributing to the death of more than 6,000 people in the state since 2000, . A court later reduced the figure to $465 million.

Now, to be clear, I was anxious to get my vaccines. I received the Pfizer on all three shots and, thus far, I鈥檝e been pretty healthy. I very much appreciate the front-line workers of the health care industry. I just want to point out that it is ironic that Johnson & Johnson and others responsible for the opioid crisis are seen as saviors in the vaccines.

Finally, I think that preventative health is the answer. Time to grow more organic food, get out of the house, and away from the TV, or we will all look like the Pillsbury Doughboy. Let鈥檚 try to keep some of the carcinogens from industrial agriculture out of our foods, water and air. All that is a start at well being, which is what we want.

I鈥檇 like to stay out of the Aakoziiwigamig as long as possible, and stay healthy. And, I am going to say one more time, that I hate the profit-making motives of the health care industry, but remain grateful for the doctors and nurses who have saved many lives.

Winona LaDuke is executive director, Honor the Earth, and an Ojibwe writer and economist on Minnesota鈥檚 White Earth Reservation. She is also owner of Winona's Hemp and a regular contributor to Forum News Service.