New Horizons PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID OMAHA NE PERMIT NO. 389
A publication of the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging
January 2023 | Vol. 48 | No. 1
Donna Polk’s Multicultural Journey of Service D By Leo Adam Biga onna L. Polk doesn’t mince words. The 79-year-old CEO of the private nonprofit Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition (NUIHC) has long told it like it is as a human services administrator and community activist. In 2022 she shepherded NUIHC opening its new $16 million campus at 2226 N St. in South Omaha. It includes an administrative services building and an affordable housing complex with its own community center. A new health clinic is just opening. Programs for children and seniors are offered. NUIHC moved to its new location from its longtime site in downtown. The organization serves an urban native population often invisible in mainstream society. Polk wants to ensure American Indians are heard and seen. “People need to understand and appreciate how sovereign nations work and why they need to exist and most of all to respect the fact that this is their native land. I want people to think about that when they say or read the words Omaha and Nebraska,” she said. “When people have to give up their land and move so someone else can be comfortable, it’s traumatic. Gentrification really
NEW HORIZONS PHOTO has a traumatic effect on people who are relocated and nobody has been relocated more than American Indians in this country. “When people think North Omaha they think African Americans and when they think South Omaha they think Spanish-speaking individuals. So, where is the place for native people on whose land we stand?” As symbolic representation of this
history, she said, the new campus includes a mural by nationally renowned artist Daniel Long Soldier. “I commissioned that fabulous mural so that people know this is native land. That’s very important. I wanted people to be able to recognize this is who we are.” NUIHC also supported a separate American Indian mural for the South Omaha Mural Project. NUIHC was once based in South
Omaha. “It’s like coming home in many ways,” she said. “We’re just happy to be here. We want to contribute to the growth and development of this part of the city.” NUIHC’s charged with elevating the health status and eliminating the disparities of urban Indians and other underserved populations through education, advocacy and health service delivery. It offers behavioral health and substance use disorder services and transitional housing. NUIHC also operates satellite facilities in Lincoln and Sioux City. “If you are native and live on a rez,” she said, “you have access to services – healthcare, housing, employment. But if you’re living in an urban center you’re often treated even worse than other people of color who share the space. Native people have health issues that cause disparities in terms of years of life lived and years of life lost.” Speaking truth to power, critiquing systemic racism and advocating for diversity-equity-inclusion are nothing new to Polk. “I really used to be very vocal about wrongs.” When living and working in Lincoln she and a Jewish family she was friends with became targets --Polk continued on page 16.
Merrymakers provide positive, quality music for older adults
M Mullen leaves mark at Central
After teaching history courses for 24 years, Rod Mullen decided it was the right time to retire. For his excellence in the classroom, Mullen received the 2022 History Nebraska Excellence in Teaching Award. Read more about Mullen’s journey as a teacher on Page 10.
By Ron Petersen music has. Sometimes you see it in usic plays a prominent role small ways and sometimes you see it in big ways.” in everyday life for many The Merrymakers first started people. making an impact in the lives of People get enjoyment from music that ranges from jazz to rock to clas- older adults when Jim Johnson met sical music, which elicits surprising with a group of Omaha businessmen to form the organization in 1986. reactions. For some, music opens up a It memory from a specific time and started place that will never be forgotten. with Many benefit from the experione musician who performed at his ence they get from music, including mother’s nursing home, but it slowthose at nursing homes, assisted ly started to grow, as they added living centers, senior centers, veter- more musicians and more locations ans’ homes and hospice care around to the list. Nebraska and Iowa, provided by the “I’ve been doing 10 to 11 shows a Merrymakers Association. month for 28 years,” the fourth mu“The seniors enjoy the music so sician of the Merrymakers Associamuch — it’s a tremendous honor tion, Joe Taylor said. “I’ve been doto serve seniors in this way,” Mering it so long that I don’t think there rymakers Association executive isn’t a place that I haven’t sang at.” director, Sandy Lemke said. “It is so gratifying to see the impact that the --Merrymakers continued on page 9.