Nikki Gore
Wants
a Career in IHS
Nikki
Gore, Crow Tribe of Montana, is happy to have
completed the first year of dental school, which was
an intense, largely didactic program in the basic
sciences. This year she and her classmates at Arizona
School of Dental and Oral Health, still have some
lectures, but the Year 2 students spend a lot of their
time in the state-of-the art simulation lab where they
watch demonstrations and then, with faculty
assistance, practice these dental skills in their own
stations where each student has a dental chair and a
manikin.
Early
Life
Gore’s mother
is full-blood Crow. Her father is Anglo. Growing up in
Hardin, Montana, just off the Crow reservation, was tough
for Gore. When she did well in school, some teachers
accused her of getting help from her white father. Sadly,
some Indians also teased her when she did well, charging
her with trying to be white.
The Crow/Northern Cheyenne IHS dental clinic was an oasis
for Gore. There she felt care for and accepted for who she
is. “The dentists were nice to me. When I was scared, they
weren’t afraid to hold my hand. They didn’t care if I was
Indian or white or what family I belonged to. They just
treated me really well. It made such an impact on my young
life that I knew I wanted to be a dentist.”
Gore was intrigued by how bodies work. She remembers being
the only little girl present when the cattle were branded
or butchered. When the men threw the cows’ heads off to the
side, she looked carefully at them. She also hunted with
her brother who taught her how to skin a rabbit.
Dealing with the taunts from two worlds got to be too much
for Gore, so after he sophomore year in high school, she
petitioned for entry into Chemawa Indian School in Salem,
Oregon. In part she was drawn to this boarding school
because her grandparents had been forced to go there.
Gore’s petition was denied, but when she wrote a “heart
felt letter” to the school, they accepted her.
Gore blossomed at Chemawa. In the summer between her junior
and senior year, she attended the INMED program at the
University of North Dakota. Upon graduating she did a
summer externship at the National Institutes of Health in
Bethesda, Maryland.
Gore was on the fast track, but several factors at this
time in her life got in the way of her committing to
becoming a dentist. She earned a dental assistant
certificate from Sheridan Community College in Wyoming.
Shortly after she started to work on a bachelor’s degree in
biology, her father had a stroke, and she was called back
home to help.
Rediscovering Dentistry
A few years later, with her mother’s encouragement, Gore
began working as a dental aid for the Crow /Northern
Cheyenne IHS Health Center where her mother has worked for
more than 37 years, first as a nurse, then in medical
records. During Gore’s more than 3 years at this facility,
she participated in continuing education that enabled her
to advance to a higher level as an expanded functions
assistant.
Gore then met her husband, who was in the army. Ten months
later they married and moved to Korea. Next they lived in
Fort Stewart in Georgia where Gore went back to school part
time and worked part time as a dental assistant. “As a
dental assistant, I realized how much I missed dental
work,” she remembers. Gore, however, lacked confidence in
her abilities and thought she was too old to become a
dentist. Fortunately, her husband saw things differently
“Dentistry is your passion,” he argued. “You need to be a
dentist. I think you can do it.’”
Gore worked hard in school, first in Georgia where her
husband was stationed and then in Colorado when he was
transferred to Ft. Carson. During this time, she gave birth
to a little girl who she had to raise largely on her own
because her husband was a busy drill sergeant and also
spent a year in Iraq. Finally Gore finished her
undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado in
Colorado Springs.
Gore’s husband retired from the army. For a year Gore
focused on being a full time mother and wife as the family
reconnected. Then drawn by its public health mission and
its use of educational technology, Gore applied to the AT
Still dental school. “When I was accept I broke down
sobbing,” she says. “I couldn’t believe that these smart
people believed in me. It’s a wonderful school. They care
about you and even know you by name.”
Future
Plans
“I want to work
in IHS for the long haul,” says Gore. “I want to work near
Chemawa Indian School so that I can do even more than
provide dental services. Some of the Indian Youth at
Chemawa are troubled. I want to be able to tell them, ‘If I
can do this, there’s no reason you can’t. You’re going to
fall, but you’re going to get back up. Every time you fall
down and get back up, that’s a lesson learned.’
Gore’s husband, her father, both grandfathers, and numerous
uncles and cousins have been in the military service, so
later in her career Gore also wants to work for the VA.
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 .)