Paulette Smith
Health Board Member
Hello, I’d like to introduce myself as one of your newest Health Board
Members. My name is Paulette Smith, Nez Perce Tribal member, (Lummi Nation,
Spokane Tribe descendent). As a single parent, I have made Lapwai my home
for the past 18+ years. I came to Lapwai due to a job that I applied for as
a Community Health Representative Outreach worker. I worked in that position
for about 6.5 yrs. I learned a lot from the elders that I cared for and had
the opportunity to meet some very special people, I am thankful to have had
that experience. I then moved on to other positions within the Tribe but
stayed very close to Nimiipuu Health (NMPH). I worked in the Contract Health
Office as a Claims Tech and then in the Business office as Patient
Registration. I also was involved with the NIKE program with our fitness
center in the very
beginning. I feel that I can make sound decisions based on the experiences
that I have had with our health programs because I am familiar with the
needs of our community and worked closely with patients and providers both
in and out of our facility.
I know we will be facing some tough economic times but I am up for
the challenge to come up with creative ideas on how to utilize the funds we
have and make every dollar count. I am hoping during this time we all take a
look at ourselves and take better care of
ourselves and each other both mentally and physically. I hope
that if there are problems with your health you will seek out the answer for
yourself by getting health education, becoming physically fit and utilizing
the staff that we have. I truly believe that if we are not physically and
mentally well we cannot function to the best of our ability, holding us back
from our dreams & goals in life. NMPH has come a long way with helping in
not just medical and dental but with physical fitness classes and
challenges, acupuncture, massage therapy and nutritional education. We have
a wonderful facility that we need to be proud of and I encourage you to go
to one of the facilities and experience what they have to offer.
