(From American Libraries,
“The Winnebago Reservation in northeastern Nebraska lies about 20 miles from the nearest drugstore. Long on farmland and short on commercial services, this rural area is a place where it’s easy for people who are elderly, homebound, or both to become isolated. Seven years ago, though, the local community college and public library created the position of tribal aide to elders. And the woman who fills it does her best to keep the community connected.
Judi Bridge’s hometown didn’t feel entirely like home anymore.
After several decades of life elsewhere, she had returned to the village of Winnebago, Nebraska (population 787) in 2009, searching for a quieter, more rural lifestyle. She’d even gotten a job at the local Little Priest Tribal College and Winnebago Public Library, working as an aide to senior citizens of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. (The village is located within the tribal reservation.) But after so much time away, she didn’t feel completely embraced by the community.
That is, until a library patron suggested that when you’re trying to find your place in any small, close-knit settlement, a useful strategy is to tell people who your parents and grandparents are. It worked like a charm. “They’ll [now] say, ‘Oh, okay, okay,’ and then they accept me,” Bridge says.
Continue reading Coming Home, Building Community Aiding elders on a Native American reservation