National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program 30th Anniversary: Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention Program reflects on the successes and challenges of cancer screening in the community. Audio Descriptive Text • Window Rock: Navajo Nation Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention Program. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. View of the desert. • Curtis Briscoe, Program Director, Navajo Nation Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention Program (NNBCCPP). • A Navajo Nation woman wearing a mask that says Tséń jíkiní strong. • Rolanda Todecheenie with client. • Delila F. Begay driving. • Delila F. Begay, MPH, Field Coordinator, Navajo Nation Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention Program (NNBCCPP). • Kaylene Schamber-Heller talking Rolanda Todecheenie. • Kaylene Schamber-Heller, WNP, Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, Indian Health Service -Tsaile. • Curtis Briscoe and a client. • Curtis Briscoe speaking. • Rolanda Todecheenie, Field Coordinator, Navajo Nation Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention Program (NNBCCPP). She prepares print materials in a few frames. • Curtis Briscoe speaking. • Curtis Briscoe illustrating the Navajo Terminology page on the NNBCCPP website. • Rolanda Todecheenie speaking. • Rolanda Todecheenie with client outside client’s home. • Curtis Briscoe speaking. • Rolanda Todecheenie driving her vehicle through dirt roads in the desert to a client’s home. • A far view of the client’s home. • Rolanda Todecheenie visiting a client’s home with flyers to promote the program. • A panel of printed materials, including Breast Cancer Facts and Pathways to a Healthy Life. • Curtis Briscoe’s office with a panel that says Navajo Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention Program with ScreenOutCancer and NNBCCPP logos and a calendar below. • Curtis Briscoe speaking. • Kaylene Schamber-Heller speaking. • Curtis Briscoe speaking. • Delila F. Begay driving with NNBCCPP flyers. • Delila F. Begay speaking. • Special thanks: NNBCCPP staff, Indian Health Service, Tsaile Health Center, Navajo Department of Health. This video was produced and shot in accordance with CDC guidelines for the prevention of COVID-19 that were available at the time. The “Enhancing Cancer Program Grantee Capacity through Peer-to-Peer Learning” project is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $850,000 with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government. Script [Curtis Briscoe] Yá’át’ééh! I’m Curtis Briscoe, program director of the Navajo Nation Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention Program. The Navajo language is an important part of the culture. We have bilingual staff out in the field. They’re the key to this program. [Delila F. Begay] Most of our health care providers come from different places, and they’re not native speakers. There is always a language barrier. [Kaylene Schamber-Heller] The first six months I was here, people just kind of watched me. Then when they realized that I cared about them, they put up with a lot. They put up with, you know, poor pronunciation or the fact you don’t speak their language well, but they know your trying. And they know you care. [Curtis Briscoe] Our staff are able to translate medical terms. For example, one of the things that’s really difficult to translate is the word breast cancer. [Rolanda Todecheenie] Putting together two words, which is breast and cancer, it’s almost like having to do a whole sentence structure. You’re having to explain the cancer first and then the body organ or the body part. The old term that they were using in Navajo, in the Navajo language was łóód doo nádziihii. If you translate that into English, it’s a sore that won’t heal. So if it’s not going to heal, that means death. We looked at more ways of trying to rephrase what it is we’re actually trying to say. [Curtis Briscoe] We even have it broken down to where each section we have the English translation for it on our website that we posted up there for anybody who wants to take a look at how we specify breast cancer and cervical cancer. And the English translation of each of the terms. [Rolanda Todecheenie] We have to be bilingual. Navajo speaking and English speaking just to get across to our clients, especially the older population. [Curtis Briscoe] A lot of times it’s about building that relationship with them. And a lot of them might live alone or live way off the road, and they they want to interact with people. So you might drive several miles off the road to one house. Then you want to go to the next house. You got to drive several more miles on the same dirt road, then maybe turn off on another dirt road to reach that house. So it’s very difficult distance wise, not just for us to reach them, for them to reach services as well. [Rolanda Todecheenie] We have to almost promote our program and gain the trust of these women that are coming through our program for preventative screening. [Curtis Briscoe] Our mobile mammography effort is to make sure that we reach as many community clinics as possible here on Navajo. [Kaylene Schamber-Heller] We call it the Boob Bus here. And my patients actually love that. The Boob Bus is coming next month, and we need to get you on it. [Curtis Briscoe] Without that effort, without the infrastructure that we’ve created, then it would be very difficult for women to get screening services. [Delila F. Begay] In the end, we’re saving women’s lives. We’re saving them to be able to continue on with their families, to provide for their families.