Oregon Health Authority and Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs: Using Storytelling to Illustrate the Impacts of Climate Change on Health

Public health practitioners are increasingly focused on the critical need to address the relationship between climate change and health. Leading the way on statewide efforts to build community resiliency for mitigating these impacts is the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), which in the fall of 2016 released a Climate and Health Resilience Plan. Among a range of actions outlined in the plan is the use of storytelling methods to engage local community members in learning about and responding to climate change.

In 2017, as a way of supporting this storytelling approach, OHA initiated a partnership with StoryCenter and with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. After recruiting a group of Warm Springs residents, StoryCenter led them through a three-day digital storytelling workshop, to share stories about how climate and environmental change have impacted local health and well-being.

The Warm Springs stories show what is happening in the community to address environmental degradation, loss of traditional resources and livelihoods, and health challenges related to extreme weather events. As a collection, the stories serve as an urgent call to action for climate change preparedness and mitigation. They are being shared in Warm Springs and across the state, to mobilize citizen involvement in carrying out the recommendations of the Resilience Plan. View the full set of stories online.

Read OHA intern Alex Garcia’s account of the project on our blog.

A story about the loss of traditions, the importance of ceremonies, and efforts to bring back the old ways. In this powerful story, Brenda, age 67, paints a vivid picture of life in Warm Springs when she was a girl.