Reflections on the 10th Annual Native Nations Nursing, Helpers, and Healers Summit
The 10th annual Native Nations Nursing, Helpers, and Healers Summit was a meaningful day of connection and reflection. Over 450 alumni, students, nurses, and Indigenous communities gathered to share stories, wisdom, and healing practices rooted in relationship—with each other and with the Earth.
From the opening welcome, prayer, and drum performance to the podium and keynote addresses, the summit’s theme, “Culture as Medicine,” expanded the understanding of what medicine truly is. Medicine is laughter, food, stories, identity, family, and connection to the land. It’s the things that restore balance and bring us back to ourselves.
Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer (Citizen Potawatomi Nation), renowned author of Braiding Sweetgrass and The Serviceberry, and a Time Magazine Most Influential Person of 2025, was the summit’s keynote speaker. In her talk, “Land, Love, Language: Healing our relationship with the natural world,” she encouraged participants to look to Indigenous knowledge and to the plants and animals—our “kin,” as she calls them—for guidance and healing.
Dr. Kimmerer’s presence was a gift, inspiring laughter, tears, and many heartfelt moments with participants throughout the day. She held two special youth-focused session with high school and college students. During a session with thirty-four high school students from around the state, Dr. Kimmerer was asked what brings her joy. Her response: “Being back here and with all of you.”
Five undergraduate UW–Madison School of Nursing students had the opportunity to share research poster presentations with Dr. Kimmerer and found her feedback to be supportive and encouraging. Traditional BSN student Abbey Woldt x’27 (Ho-Chunk) presented a poster on Ho-Chunk traditional medicine. TBSN students Phurbu Bhuti x’26, Megan Boulton x’26, and Daunte Gordon x’26 (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), who participated in the new School of Nursing immersion program with the Ho-Chunk House of Wellness this summer, presented a poster titled, “Decolonizing Nursing for Healing and Justice.” Brandy Reinert, another Ho-Chunk House of Wellness immersion participant, presented a poster titled, “Evaluating Connections between Environmental Toxins and Suicidality in Native and Rural Populations.”
Abbey Woldt also led summit attendees on one of the First Nations Cultural Landscape Tours of the UW–Madison campus, co-led with Isabelle Bubnick, a physics, astronomy-physics, and Russian major. They shared the Ho-Chunk history in Teejop (Madison) and their resilience and connection to the land.
This year’s summit was a beautiful reminder that healing is communal, and that joy, humor, and connection are powerful medicines. We’re proud to be part of a community that honors Indigenous knowledge and centers healing in all its forms.
Thank you to all the attendees, artisans, volunteers, partners, and sponsors who made this event so special!
Platinum Sponsors:
Evjue Foundation; Forest County Potawatomi Foundation; and National Institutes of Health – NARCH, Nursing Class of 1971 Fund
Gold Sponsors:
Medical College of Wisconsin and Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
Silver Sponsors:
Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison and Signe Skott Cooper Continuing Education Fund
Bronze Sponsors:
Civil Society and Community Studies, School of Human Ecology, UW-Madison; Great Lakes Indigenous Law Center; University of Wisconsin Law School; Native American Center for Health Professions (NACHP); and The Osher Center for Integrative Health School of Medicine and Public Health, UW-Madison
Partners:
Department of Botany, UW–Madison; Department of Community and Environmental Sociology, UW–Madison; Native Nations Workgroup, UW–Madison; Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council; Circle Graduate Program; Native Nations UW Indigenous Student Wellbeing Subcommittee; and Office of Tribal Relations