O k l a h o m a n s of the Year By John Wooley, Tara Malone and Brian Wilson
It’s a difficult balancing act – focusing on the needs and talents of others while guiding those collective energies toward a common goal. Our Oklahomans of the Year have shown how to level those scales in divergent arenas. All four – the late musician Roy Clark, social justice advocate Moises Echeverria, Cherokee Principal Chief Bill John Baker and brand-new U.S. Rep. Kendra Horn – have earned their places in the public eye by embracing leadership and giving others the opportunities to shine.
For the Cherokee Nation, the historic agreement makes sense socioeconomically, culturally. For Principal Chief Bill John Baker, it is palpable, personal. In October, Baker announced a partnership with the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences to begin the first tribally affiliated medical school in North America. The Cherokees’ W.W. Hastings Hospital in Tahlequah, as part of a 469,000-square-foot expansion of the campus, will welcome its first students in September 2020 in a separate facility. The landmark medical school in the heart of Indian Country strikes Baker emotionally. The 66-year-old has to pause to collect himself when he considers how the institution affects him as an individual because it addresses generations of injustice and imbalance involving Native people. “I might sit on my front porch,” says Baker, his voice quavering at the thought, “and have a smile on my face when I see the disparity of health care eliminated. I’ll be complete.” The medical school will have about 50 students per class with a mission of practicing in rural towns, many of which have little access to health care. Discussing policy nuts-and-bolts, Baker eschews sentiment and becomes fervent, bold. “The average age of doctors in rural towns in Oklahoma is 59,” Baker says. “Our rural clinics need doctors, especially young ones. We want Oklahoma to be a primary-care oasis in rural areas, not a primary-care desert. “We want our kids to stay and raise their children around their grandparents. To make that happen, our kids must have a good education, and we have to create quality jobs for them when they graduate from college. These young doctors will want to stay home and serve their people in rural Oklahoma.” Principal chief since 2011, Baker says the tribal capital’s medical school is the Cherokee Way of keeping the big picture in mind. “There’s no doubt it’s symbolic,” he says. “This is going to change the quality and speed of health care in Oklahoma and Indian Country for the next seven generations. Our ancestors, when they needed teachers, grew their own teachers. We’re growing our own doctors with this partnership. “We don’t look at next week or next year. Everything we do is about the great-great-greatgrandchildren of the future.”
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OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2019
PHOTO BY JOSH NEW
Chief Bill John Baker
