America's first Native doctor, Susan La Flesche Picotte (1865-1915) studied medicine at a time when few women dared. She | dG1fSGpwZjdOVERFRWc
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00:00It has always been a desire of mine to study medicine, ever since I was a small girl.
00:08For even then, I saw the needs of my people for a good physician.
00:15What does it take to heal a people?
00:19Sometimes I have to take a break, just burn a little and just say a little prayer, you
00:23know.
00:24I don't know what I'm going to face when I walk through those hospital doors.
00:29If I don't do this, I will not become a physician.
00:33If I do become a physician, I may be able to take care of thousands of patients.
00:38I may be able to save hundreds of lives.
00:43When I first came here, I could be on call every other night and I could save lives.
00:50And I did.
00:51One of the lives she saved was that of her adopted son.
00:56When he was born, he had a lot of medical issues.
00:58He went through withdrawal.
00:59And he knows how to say wakalapi.
01:04Coffee, wakalapi.
01:09So that's his favorite word.
01:12That's why I feel that there's so much alcohol and drug use, because they don't have a center.
01:17The spiritual piece of us is so small.
01:20That spark is so tiny.
01:23Why don't I use what's right in my backyard?
01:26That's what kept us alive.
01:27I mean, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for our own medicine.
01:32She told me that I needed to pray.
01:35And so I used my beating and it was really, it was really comforting.
01:45When a way of life is shattered, it's often the women who become the healers.
01:52Meet the first Native American doctor and the women who follow in her footsteps.