Cherie Parks’ laugh bubbles up easily and quickly. Talking to the composed, 31-year-old Cowlitz Indian, you’d never guess it hides a world of pain.
For years, Parks says, she numbed the pain of sexual assault and domestic violence with heroin and meth. In 2003, she was a passenger in a car that crossed into oncoming traffic on Oregon’s U.S. Route 26, crashing with a force equivalent to 170 mph.
A tiny wire mesh tube called a “stent” protects Parks’ carotid artery in her neck. If the stent ever broke, Parks said, “I’d be gone in 30 seconds.”
On Monday, Parks — who has been clean seven months — got the first paid job of her life.
She’s a success story of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe’s vocational rehabilitation program, which recently became the nation’s first tribal vocational rehabilitation clinic to receive a three-year accreditation by the independent Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.
The recognition means the clinic is meeting national standards. Now in the fourth year of a $1.3 million, five-year federal grant, the clinic has four staff members who have worked with 230 American Indians in a six-county area. Of those, 142 have found jobs.
Director Shari Hughes says the tribe’s clinic uses an individualized, yet “holistic” approach that provides guidance and counseling, jobs assistance and training, transportation and other services ranging from basic — drafting a resume — to highly involved, as in Parks’ case.
“We’re all-inclusive here,” said Hughes, the clinic director. “(Clients) tend to come back if everything’s all here. That’s one of the reasons we’re successful.”
She said the tribe plans to reapply for the federal grant when it ends in a year. Under terms of the grant, only members of a recognized Indian tribe can receive assistance.
“It’s a pleasure working with these folks and seeing them succeed through the huge barriers that have been holding them back,” said Jennifer Lancaster, a Cowlitz Indian and the clinic’s sole Longview counselor.
Breaking the cycle
Few clients present a tougher case than Parks, who lost custody of her two children — her oldest child died — never worked a paid job and has no high school diploma.
She said she became addicted to marijuana at age 8, to alcohol at age 13, and is a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence. Her family has a history of alcoholism, she said.
“I chose to be the one to break the cycle, so my children do not grow up being alcoholics and addicts,” Parks said.
Parks receives treatment through the tribe’s chemical dependency program, is “very involved” in a sexual assault program and is working on her General Equivalency Diploma (GED). Her next court date in her effort to regain full custody of her children is today.
“From the moment I went in (to the tribe’s clinic) I had disillusions,” Parks said. “I thought, what are they going to do for me that I can’t do for myself? But as time went on I understood that they could help me become who I am today. That they could help me go back to school and get a job, and just support me when I’m down and out, feeling depressed.”
Monday, after five months in the program, Parks became the 13th client to be hired directly by the tribe. The tribe will pay Parks' salary as a receptionist at another local social services organization, where her experience could help others battling similar demons.
“I’m excited and a little bit scared,” Parks said. “I haven’t worked (outside the home) since I was born.”
‘The whole ball’
For years, Cowlitz member Sandra Hampton worked “word of mouth” jobs through a temporary staffing firm, tagging fish along the Columbia River. When her mother became seriously ill and needed help at her Castle Rock home, Hampton quit her job and took classes to became a state-certified caregiver.
When her mom died last year, Hampton, 49, struggled with depression, with diabetes and with the challenge of providing for her disabled 64-year-old husband.
She needed income. She needed work.
“I’m carrying the whole ball,” said Hampton, of Castle Rock.
After working with Lancaster to put together her first resume, Hampton recently found a job as an in-home caregiver at $9.50 an hour. She starts Saturday.
“It did kind of bring on a little bit of depression, losing my mother and kind of being out of work at the same time,” Hampton said. “Even though I have a lot of strength, it was really hard.”
Hampton said she plans to train as a certified nurse’s assistant. “It’ll just be bettering my financial situation a lot and it’ll be relieving a lot of stress,” she said.
‘Limping heavily’
Graydn Donner of Longview says his new artificial hips now work “really well,” but his job as a janitor at Longview Fibre has the 56-year-old walking four miles a night and is “a little bit physical.”
“What I’m looking for now is, the older I get, I’m going to have to find something that is going to suit my body,” said Donner, a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian tribe of Wisconsin.
He’s considering human resources or real estate appraisal and he’s thinking of boning up on his computer and typing skills.
“They’re very, very supportive,” Donner said of the clinic staff. “Transportation, work supplies, clothing, tools, anything to get you going in the job, then they’ll work with you on it.”
“If you’re committed, then there’s no reason that you can’t succeed in this program,” he said. “If you want to lay back and let someone else do the work, then nothing much is going to happen.”
Harkening back to Pasteur’s particular affirmation of education, Barta is determined to complete her formal training. “Eventually – someday – I really want to get my Master of Science in nursing.” But she has only tangential interests in administration, outweighed by a profound zeal for nursing. “I always want to work. I love the interaction with patients,” Barta said.(source) |
