Dedicated
to better health opportunities
Our Staff and Board
The staff and board of Messengers for Health are community members dedicated to serving their families and neighbors.
Alma Knows His Gun-McCormick
Executive Director
Alma is a member of the Apsáalooke (Crow) Indian Tribe and fluently speaks her language. Her compassion for working with cancer stems from her personal experience of losing her daughter to cancer. From 1996-2000 she was the Outreach Coordinator for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded Montana Breast and Cervical Health Program. She first conducted outreach education with Apsáalooke Indian women, feeling a breakthrough about the awareness of the importance of the Pap test and mammograms. Later, she provided culturally sensitive education to all Indian women on the seven reservations and in urban Indian clinics in Montana. Alma’s focus has been on health education with the dream of continuing her work with women and men on the Crow reservation. She has fulfilled that dream by being the Executive Director for the Messengers for Health Program. She is a single mother with two sons, one daughter, and five grandchildren.
Learn more about Alma's recognitions and achievements in the news list.
Lucille Other Medicine, MSW
Program Assistant
Lucille has a Master's degree in Social Work and has extensive experience in the research arena.
She has worked in mental health, law enforcement and education research. At MSU-Bozeman, she worked with the MAP AIRO PROGRAM, helping to write a successful grant for the students working in the labs. Elected as legislator for the Crow Tribe Legislative branch, she traveled to Washington DC and met with energy, health and education department to advocate for the Crow Tribe. She has met with local, state, federal governmental agencies regarding issues and concerns for the Crow Nation.
Christiane Parrish
Program Assistant
Christiane is a member of the Apsáalooke Nation and has a master's in Community Health. She is working to adapt the Báa nnilah program for other Tribal communities.
When she is not working and doing research she loves to bead, travel, explore new places and spend time with her family.
Our Board of Directors
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Carol Goodluck (Chair)
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Doris Stewart (Vice-Chair)
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Lois Rides Horse (Secretary/Treasurer)
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Sidney (Chip) Fitzpatrick
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Burdick Two Leggins
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Alda Goodluck
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Pam Garza
Eleanor Pretty on Top (Deceased/Served as a longstanding Honorary Elder Board Member)
Strong Partnership leads to national recognition
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation National Health Equity Award
Alma McCormick, executive director of Messengers for Health, and Suzanne Held, MSU community health professor have been recognized nationally for their work to promote health equity and social justice through the Messengers for Health program. They received the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Equity Presented by Community-Campus Partnerships for Health. This award recognizes and celebrates individuals who have successfully changed systems and policies that help reduce health disparities and move the nation toward health equity. Full article...
MSU Photo by Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez
Suzanne Held
MSU Liaison
Suzanne Held is a Professor of Community Health in the Department of Health and Human Development at Montana State University. She has worked in partnership since 1996 with Alma McCormick and other community members with Messengers for Health. She is white, originally from Wisconsin and understands that health disparities exist because of colonization and current policies that privilege whites and wants to do her part toward a healthier and more equitable future.
Alma appointed to Advisory Panel for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
Alma is the only Native American panel member on the "Patient Engagement" Advisory Panel for this national organization.
According to the organization's website:
The Advisory Panel on Patient Engagement "is instrumental in helping the Institute to ensure the highest patient engagement standards and a culture of patient-centeredness in all aspects of our work. helping us refine and prioritize research questions, provide needed scientific and technical expertise, offer input on other issues relevant to our mission, and help us model full and meaningful patient and stakeholder engagement efforts."
HOW ENGAGEMENT HELPS US DO OUR WORK By engagement in research, we mean the involvement of patients, caregivers, clinicians, insurers, and others across the healthcare community in every aspect of the research process.
WHY ENGAGEMENT MATTERS We believe engagement influences research to be more patient centered, useful, and trustworthy, and will ultimately lead to greater use and uptake of research results by the patient and broader healthcare community. In fact, our stakeholders increasingly report that engagement has: • Improved study conduct, including effective recruitment and meeting enrollment targets • Substantial and positive impacts on stakeholders, patients, and communities such as improvements to personal health and healthcare and increased skills and professional opportunities • Improved the relevance of research
Montana Cancer Coalition honors Alma McCormick
2019 Bette Bohlinger Leadership Award
“She is being recognized for her exemplary work in health education and health promotion activities that benefit indigenous and non-indigenous communities alike,” said Emily Coyle, co-chair of the MTCC Steering Committee, who nominated McCormick for the award.
Executive Director Receives Award
Alma McCormick is awarded 2017 Local Impact Award by the National Indian Health Board
Alma McCormick, MA
Executive Director adds BA in Community Health as she graduates from MSU Billings
Alma also receives Dr. Frank Newman Rural Healthy Leadership Award from Montana Office of Rural Health & Area Health Education Center at Montana State University.
Executive Director
Alma McCormick visits Cold Harbor Spring Laboratory
While there, Alma performed DNA testing on water samples.
Alma is also a member of Community Partners for Human Genomic Research sponsored by Human Geonomic Research Institute through the National Institute for Health.