How Does it Affect Me and My Family? What is it? And Why Should I Care?

The PYT Health Division is 1 of 5 Tribes currently seeking to become an accredited Health Department; currently the only fully accredited Tribal Health Department is the Cherokee Nation Health Services in Oklahoma. Health Department Accreditation focuses on how well we are serving and protecting our community/families against infectious diseases and environmental health emergencies, as well as how we address chronic disease, deliver public health education, and share public health information.

The organization that will evaluate how well we are performing as a Health Department is the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) which has established accreditation standards that all Health Departments are required to meet. These standards were developed to assure that all Health Departments (Tribal, Local, State) have a basic foundation to competently address public health issues, and consistently improve services and accountability for their communities.

To receive national accreditation through PHAB, a health department must undergo a rigorous, multi-faceted, peer-reviewed assessment process that includes the review of hundreds of documents and a 2 day site visit. The PY Health Department, will be reviewed in mid-2019 by the PHAB to attempt to become accredited. (They started working on this project in 2012.)

In the meantime, we will be hosting Community Meetings/Focus Groups in Pascua community for your feedback about our activities/programs, so stay tuned!