How Tribal Communities Help Reduce the Risks of Commercial Tobacco Use and COVID-19

Host Leah Lemm explores how Indian Country in MN is responding and
adapting to the current pandemic health crisis. Lung disease,
cancer, and now complications due to COVID19 are a few of the many
dangers that smoking cigarettes or using commercial tobacco causes.
Today’s show looks at how Indian Country is helping our communities
reduce commercial tobacco use. Leah talks with Mille Lacs Band
member Bobby Eagle, who is a cultural advisor for the Mille Lacs
Band of Ojibwe Health and Human Services Department at Four Winds
treatment center. And she talks with Madge Ducheneaux, who works at
the Division of Indian work in the Youth Leadership Development
Program MN Native News reporter Melissa Townsend speaks with Sharon
Day, an elder from the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe, and is the
Executive Director of the Indigenous People’s Task Force in
Minneapolis. The Indigenous Peoples Task Force has hosted programs
to teach youth and adults about traditional tobacco and to help and
support those wanting to quit commercial tobacco.