"[C]oming back by way of Bismarck, I found something even more surprising, something that said North Dakotans are a caring and sensitive people. It was a smudging room at St. Alexius Medical Center.
Of all of the American Indian ceremonies, one of the most serious deals with illness, dying and death — and that smudging room makes such ceremonies possible in the hospital.
I saw the room when I went to visit my sister, Kaye. She’d had a knee replaced at St. Alexius, a painful but relatively common surgery. She was — as the doctors had told her she would be — in pain after the surgery.
On the first floor as you enter the hospital, there is a large solarium with a tree canopy and plenty of green plants. The room is filled with comfortable chairs; it’s a nice place to come and enjoy solitude.
On the walls are some pictures of famous American Indians. In a tall glass case is a full-length war bonnet — in excellent condition and beautiful. A plaque says the bonnet was donated by a nun.
And off of that big room is a “meditation room,” also called the “smudging room” by locals and American Indians. The room is for smudging and other ceremonies for Indian people at the hospital, my sister said."
Get the Story:COLUMNIST DORREEN YELLOW BIRD: Hospital's 'smudging room' shows sensitivity (The Grand Forks Herald 7/)
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