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 COVID-19 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.