Prior Lake, Minnesota - The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community today announced the speakers for the Wellness Conference, at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel. The conference will be held July 21-22, 2008, in the new Mystic Showroom which opened in August 2007. Use of The Showroom will accommodate up to 800 participants.

Registration is free for the conference which is being held to increase awareness of the influence of lifestyle choices on the prevention and management of chronic illness both personally and for individual communities. Tribal members from American Indian communities across the Northern Plains as well as health care professionals are expected to attend.

The focus of the conference will be merging ways of healing, nutrition, exercise, and motivation for change. On the second day of the conference a morning walk will be held at The Meadows at Mystic Lake golf course to honor the important role of exercise in maintaining good health. Blood glucose and blood pressure readings will also be available.

Georgia Fox (Mandan) will give the keynote address on the first day of the conference. Georgia currently works for the Three Affiliated Tribes Gerald Tex Fox Correctional Facility in providing training for adult inmates on Moral Reconation Therapy and Native Teachings. She will give a talk entitled, “Honoring Our Life” in which she will encourage conference attendees to heal their hearts, minds, and spirits by honoring their past, acknowledging their present, and looking to the future after finding their center of peace within.

Other speakers at the conference are:

• Dr. Tiffany Beckmann (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe), consulting endocrinologist for the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, will talk about strategies for permanent weight loss.

• Dr. Ray Begay (Navajo), Family Practice Physician, will discuss music in healing.

• Registered Nurse Lorelei DeCora (Winnebago) will discuss the development and use of Talking Circles to fight diabetes.

• Monte Fox (Hidatsa), White Earth Diabetes Project Coordinator, will discuss physical activity as a path to wellness.

• Dr. David Perdue (Chickasaw), a gastroenterologist at the University of Minnesota, will talk about Colorectal Cancer, risk factors, and the importance of prevention and early detection.

• Bill Weiers, registered pharmacist with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, will discuss prescription medications.

• Dr. Lana White-King (Alabama Coushatta/Sisseton), staff physician at the SMSC Medical Clinic, will talk about women’s health issues.

Janice Bad Moccasin (Crow Creek Sioux Tribe) and Sheldon Bryant (Shakopee Mdewakanton) will host women’s and men’s health forums, respectively. The SMSC Wellness Conference is designed for Native Americans who wish to lead healthier lives. For more information call SMSC Wellness Conference Office at 952-233-2965 or go to www.shakopeedakota.org. For hotel information call 952-445-9000.

^ top ^