House Calls

Keams Canyon, AZ, 2004

In the village of Oraibi, the oldest, continuously inhabited village in North America, old So'oh (grandma) starts the day by tuning into the local radio station KUYI-FM even before making her morning coffee. The village has no electricity or running water, but the battery-operated radio serves as So'oh's primary connection with the 12 villages that occupy the three mesas on the Hopi Reservation in Northeastern Arizona. Balancing the modern with age-old ways has not been easy for the Hopi. KUYI-FM, the Hopi-owned community radio station, is a vital source of communication and information for the 12,000 Hopi living in this isolated, rural area.

KUYI's House Calls is a program that worked to connect the community. Anchored by a local physician and educator, the successful weekly program engaged Elders as cultural experts as well as recipients of health information. A gerontologist joined the radio team to become an ally of the Elders, listening to their questions, providing answers and making their concerns a priority.

Elders play a major role as the wisdom-keepers among the Hopi, specifically in perpetuating cultural traditions. KUYI partnered with these Elders to integrate health messages from their stories of life including monthly religious observances and numerous societal obligations. Through interpretive storytelling techniques, modern technology and culturally familiar events and activities, the program offered individuals, such as So'oh, an opportunity to learn, to teach and to enhance their later years.

House Calls was produced by KUYI in partnership with the Institute for Health Professions Education. Other partners included The Phoenix Area Indian Health Service, Hopi Health Care Center, the Elder Services Program and the Arizona Geriatric Education Center. The program provided four one-hour live remote radio talk shows and six public service announcements. Health messages embedded in stories were framed in a Hopi cultural context.