ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses some areas of concern to individuals who work with elders who are Navajo, or Dine, as they call themselves. It also addresses the needs of Dine elders who still adhere to their traditional values, healing approaches, and family systems, presents the history of the Indian Health Service. The majority of tribal members live on the Navajo Reservation, which consists of 27,000 square miles and spans the three states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. In 1868, an estimated 7,500 Dine were released after the signing of the treaty, which stated that the federal government would give the Navajo people a land base in the eastern part of Arizona. The lack of communication between health facilitators and the members of the Navajo tribe is changing because many people who are fifty years old and under know how to speak English.
