Diabetes and Obesity in Oglala Lakota County

Richard Iron Cloud Research Manager

Makoce Agriculture

I remember when I was a young boy, either in the late 1960s or early 1970s, I was at the Porcupine Fair Pow Wow in late Summer. I watched the Pow Wow dancing and the people walking by, generally having a good time visiting with people. I remember looking at a little child who was obese, and I had never seen a boy or girl who was obese.  As I was looking in bewilderment, an Unci-Grandmother admonished me, asking what I was looking at, I quickly looked away, ashamed at my staring at the child and the admonishment of the elder. As I got older, I began to realize that the number of people who are obese began to increase.

 My older brother, who was often referred to as (Big Jim) was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 38 years old; even before that, my mother was diagnosed with diabetes in the early 1960s. She may have been the same age; my mother worked in the Wright and McGill fish hook factory in a large log house in Wounded Knee.  She would sit with other men and women for hours at a long table, tying fish hooks and putting them in plastic containers. 

I remember living in Pine Ridge in the 1970s, and there was a trailer in the back of the Old Hospital with four chairs; this was the dialysis unit back then.  And now, in 2023, we have two dialysis units on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, one in Porcupine and the other in Pine Ridge Village, each with over 14 chairs.  And runs six days a week with three shifts a day.  

Obesity in the United States affects more than 100 million adults (42%) and 14 million children (20%), accounting for approximately $173 Billion in annual healthcare costs. According to local data, 35.4% of all adults are overweight, and 29.8% are obese in South Dakota. The CDC reports that obesity is higher among American Indians and individuals living in rural and frontier communities than their urban counterparts (SDSU October 04th, 2023, posted in Health, Nutrition, Physical Activity).

Some of the elders say the epidemic of Diabetes and Obesity may have started in the 1950s on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Purchasing television sets in the 1960s may have pushed the sedentary lifestyle to its fullest extent. Or perhaps it’s the purchasing of vehicles that caused the epidemic.  I remember some early stories by a lady in Pine Ridge who said she had five Aunties.  All of them, except for one auntie, have vehicles. She stated that all of them have diabetes except one auntie who doesn’t own a car.  The one auntie who doesn’t own a vehicle walks to the post office or the store to get supplies.  She also walks to the clinic at the Pine Ridge Hospital.  However, she is the only auntie who doesn’t have diabetes or obesity. 

 I remember one elder in Oglala who said in his childhood; it was rare that he would hear a car go by on the road; he said maybe one vehicle an hour.  Nowadays, in his old age, there are many vehicles and constant vehicle noise on the highway in Oglala.  Nowadays, the car is like a status symbol, similar to the horse in the old days. That may be why when one travels around the reservation on Pine Ridge, one can see a lot of vehicles around a house; most of them aren't running, but they are status symbols nonetheless. The horse was wakan and treated like it was sacred, but nowadays, they are on the road and sometimes run over by a car. Their sacredness may have diminished on the Reservation within the last half-century.

I test my blood sugar every other day. I noticed when I purposefully walk during the day, usually about three miles in the morning or afternoon.  My blood sugar is lower than usual.  So, when the weather isn’t so bad, I will walk back a mile and a half out of my house. My dogs enjoy the walks, and my neighbor's dogs join in, so I'm the pack's leader, walking our usual route.  The wisdom of the elders and my older brother Jim says walk to reduce blood sugar naturally.