November is Native American Heritage Month

Date: 11/08/22

November is Native American Heritage Month, or as it is commonly referred to, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) Heritage Month. The month highlights the culture, traditions and achievements of the nation's original inhabitants and their descendants.

The Indian Health Service says that American Indians and Alaska Natives born today have a life expectancy that is 5.5 years less than the U.S. all races population (73.0 years to 78.5 years, respectively). This means that they continue to die at higher rates than other Americans in many categories.

Health Net partners with organizations that serve AIAN Californians to increase their health outcomes and ensure they have access to high quality care. Over recent years, we've awarded more than $775,000 to our partners. Recent grant recipients include:

• Chapa-De Indian Health Program, Inc. — Funds helped Chada De to provide in-depth training to their work force to increase the number of patients receiving whole-person care. This helps improve patient outcomes.
• Feather River Tribal Health, Inc. — Feather River used the grant to upgrade their technology infrastructure. This improved their ability to deliver telehealth services to patients. This was very important during COVID.
• Sacramento Native American Health Center, Inc. — The grant allowed many of their employees to receive one on one coaching, career-based training and mentorship. These items help to enrich their employees and the service they provide for their patients.

Health Net is proud to help improve health outcomes for AIAN communities. We will continue to invest in this important work. To learn more about our efforts to increase health equity, visit our Resource Library.