From: Oklahoma Nurses Association
November is Native American Heritage Month!
Highlighting Sonya Frazier, another Native ONA member.
Sonya Frazier , BSN, RN. USPHS
November is Native American Heritage Month! This week we are highlighting Sonya Frazier, a Native ONA member.
Sonya Frazier is Choctaw and Chickasaw. She has been a registered nurse for 19 years and an officer in the United Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (USPHS) for 14 years. She helped create the first Oklahoma Indigenous Nurses Association (OINA), a chapter of Oklahoma Nurses Association and elected to be their first President. She has created Indigenous cultural educational training for nursing programs to address the health and social disparities and health equity in Indigenous populations.
As a descendant of a boarding school survivor, she is also the founder of the Regalia Making Relatives organization that envisions thriving Indigenous communities through networking, collaboration, mentoring, and regalia making. This organization works closely with local Johnson O’Malley programs and the Oklahoma State Department of Health to encourage, educate and assist Native American children in foster care and adoptees to stay connected to their Indigenous heritage.
Sonya was recently selected for her expertise in Indigenous health care to the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing. This committee involves the American Nurses Association (ANA), National Black Nurses Association (NBNA), National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN), and the National Coalition of Ethnic and Minority Nurses Association (NCEMNA) and Oklahoma Indigenous Nurses Association (OINA). The Commission created to help advance the work and achieve the vision of a nursing profession that exemplifies inclusivity, diversity, and equity creating antiracist praxis and environments. Her goal in life is to lead the way for healing by reconnecting to our Indigenous ways.
You can also find many Native Resources on the OINA Chapter webpage: http://bit.ly/3EDch50. Friend ONA at https://www.facebook.com/OKNurses
