Oglala Sioux Lakota Nursing Home Activities Director Jacque Knight, resident Bernadine Elk Boy and CNA April Two BullsOGLALA SIOUX LAKOTA NURSING HOME
Born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Kathy Janis was taught to revere the elders in her Oglala Sioux Tribe.
“I was raised to consider every one of them to be a relative. Respect is instilled in us,” she said. “My parents didn’t tell it, they lived it and showed us.”
That’s why Janis prioritized the needs of her older relatives while serving on the Tribal Council. More than a decade ago, the governing body began laying the groundwork to build a nursing home specifically for the tribe’s members. An early step was visiting tribal elders who were scattered in facilities around the country to see if they would be interested in a nursing home on tribal land.
“When we spoke to our people, the refrain was, ‘Did you come to take me home [to our land]?’” she said. “There was a lady at a nursing home in Texas who was so homesick that she stopped eating. She passed away there. We brought her home for burial, but we couldn’t bring her home to be with her family at the end. That bothered me.”
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