Introduction
The Diné (Navajo) Nation covers about 27,000 square miles, occupying parts of northeastern Arizona, southwestern Utah, and northwestern New Mexico. It is nearly the size of West Virginia and has about 300,000 enrolled members, 58% of whom live on the reservation. There are estimated to be 6 hospitals, 7 health clinics, and 15 health stations provided by the Navajo Area Indian Health Service (NAIHS). The health clinics are open full time and, in small communities, the health stations operate only part-time. The majority of the population residing within the small rural communities has to travel fifteen to fifty miles to get to the nearest health clinic when the local health stations are not in service. There are also private health care providers on the Diné Nation like private hospitals, chiropractors, dentists, and optometrist and traditional medicine men, hand tremblers, and herbalists. According to the Office of Native Healing Science's registry, there are about 1,029 Navajo practitioners (medicine men and women), hand tremblers, and herbalists currently practicing traditional healing.
A traditional sick person will see a medicine man, hand trembler, or crystal gazer (in Diné meaning 'the one who knows') to determine the causes of an illness in order to cure it. A hand trembler says a prayer to the Gila monster's spirit, asking for information about the sickness and its cure. (1) The Gila monster is believed to know and see everything, and he taught hand trembling to a person who has wisdom beyond the five senses, and the people know this because the monster's forefoot shakes when he lifts when walking. The trembling feeling resembles a tingling sensation or an electric shock. A person must have good thoughts to have the signal which is called hoyee'. A crystal gazer is a person who uses clear quartz and will perform a short ceremony looking into the stone while chanting. When the illness is determined the sick person will see a Navajo medicine man/woman or an herbalist who use herbs, prayers, and songs to prescribe and heal the patients' ailments.
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