Darlene Sorrell
Providing Excellent Services Despite
Odds
Darlene
Sorrell, Navajo, DMD, has been serving as the Director
of Clinical Services at the Albuquerque Indian Health
Service Dental Program since 1994. More than 40 hours
each week, she cares for patients at this urban
clinic. In addition, she has administrative and
leadership responsibilities that have included keeping
the clinic alive. In 2002 when the service unit’s
dental funding was distributed to surrounding tribal
groups that chose to manage their dental program
funds, the lack of federal funding for urban dental
and medical centers became dramatically clear. Sorrell
says, “Our options were to close or get very
creative.” Sorrell and her colleagues were creative
and found ways to support and even grow their program
so that now it serves even more people, and it is
minimally dependent on the federal government.
The
Love of Hands-on Work
Sorrell remembers always wanting to be a dentist. “I liked
the idea of using my hands to help provide needed dental
care not only on the reservation but across the country.”
Sorrell never talked with her high school counselor about
her careers plans because she had heard many stories of
counselors who discouraged American Indian students from
entering the health professions. “Instead, I went to the
University of Arizona at Tucson for my undergraduate work
and started figuring it out from there, “ she explains.
Sorrell’s first real exposure to dentistry was during two
summers and Christmases at Tuba City Dental Clinic. There,
as part of a program sponsored by the Navajo Health
Authority, she assisted with some dental procedures and
with the fluoride program.
Lacking confidence that she would get into dental school on
her first try, Sorrell did her undergraduate degree in
medical technology, planning to work as a medical
technologist until getting into dental school. However, the
School of Dentistry at Oregon Health and Science University
in Portland Oregon accepted her immediately.
Sorrell found that the coursework was challenging. However,
facing cultural issues, balancing two worlds, and relating
to students from educated, economically well-off families
was even more challenging. “Navajos believe that you’re not
supposed to dissect the human body – the cadaver. Four of
us were assigned to work with each cadaver. I tried to stay
away from touching the cadaver but that wasn’t possible.
Most of the tests and quizzes were on the body so I
couldn’t just study out of the book. I had to tell my
parents what I was up against. They told me what I needed
to do. After I passed the course, I had a traditional
ceremony to put me back in harmony with my surroundings. In
Oregon there was nobody around to talk with about this. I
didn’t think the students would understand.”
“In the 1970s and 1980s, these kinds of challenges were not
uncommon for American Indian students,” says Sorrell. Today
the number of American Indian dental students has
increased. Hopefully, this is resulting in more peer and
faculty support and understanding.”
While getting her own education, Sorrell helped prepare
other American Indian students for higher education. The
summer before dental school, she lived in the dorm at
Navajo Community College where she served as a tutor and
counselor for 25 Navajo high school juniors. The summer
following her first year in dental school, Sorrell was a
peer counselor for high school students in the Hopi Health
Manpower program. Later, she tutored 25 American Indian
students as part of a Northwest Portland Area Indian Health
Board program.
Prevention
Work
After completing her second year of dental school, Sorrell
enhanced her skills the next two summers as a COSTEP
student (Commissioned Officer Student Training and Extern
Program) at the Tuba City Dental Clinic. When she graduated
from dental school, Sorrell entered the IHS and went to
Second Mesa on the Hopi Reservation where she supervised
two staff dentists and four dental auxiliaries at the Keams
Canyon Dental Clinic. “We had a strong prevention program
and implemented an effective sealant program in seven grade
schools throughout the Hopi Reservation,” she remembers.
Three years later Sorrell became Chief of the Juneau Dental
Program at the Southeast Alaska Regional Health
Corporation. This comprehensive program, with its strong
prevention component, served Juneau and the village of
Hoonah. Then, as an IHS advanced general practice resident,
Sorrell moved to the Alaska Native Medical Center where she
had to travel by small plane to remote Alaskan Native
communities that lacked roads. Following her residency,
Sorrell became an assistant area dental officer at the
Alaska Dental Area Office in Anchorage.
Sorrel describes her time in Alaska as “exciting” and
“adventurous”. Corporations in Alaska administer health
care at the local level. Sorrell feels that working in this
system helped prepare her for the current situation in
which local tribes and pueblos are increasingly taking
control of their own health care.
In 1994, with the more advanced skills that she had
acquired in her residency program Sorrell was promoted to
Chief, Complex Program, Service Unit Dental Program at
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute. This program,
then the largest IHS dental program, provided preventive,
rehabilitative, and urgent dental care to the approximately
30,000 American Indians who live in Albuquerque and the
surrounding communities of Alamo, Isleta, Sandia, Santa
Ana, Zia and Jemez. “I was attracted to coming here because
I thought I could have a larger impact,” Sorrell explains.
Sorrell indeed has made an impact, improving the health and
the lives of countless Indian people. In the future she
hopes to become more involved with dental health care on
the Navajo reservation. She also has ideas for some dental
inventions that she hopes to develop and patent.
Advice
Sorrell recommends that students who are contemplating a
career in dentistry connect with someone in the field and
get exposure to dentistry. She herself has an open door
policy for American Indian students who want to shadow her
at her clinic. Students are also welcome to be volunteers,
though that requires lengthy paperwork. Sorrell also
recommends that students stay in touch with organizations
such as SAID, that can provide them with information about
relevant conferences, activities, and scholarships.
This
article was originally published in the Spring 2007 issue
of
Winds of Change. (The cover
artist, Buffalo Gouge, Creek and Cherokee, works with
bright colors. Portraits are his main interest. For more
information visit .)