In the Spirit of Medicine

Series produced by WDSE

Caption: Dr. Arne Vainio, Credit: Ivy Vainio
Image by: Ivy Vainio 
Dr. Arne Vainio 

Dr. Arne Vainio is an enrolled member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and a family practice doctor on the Fond Du Lac reservation in Cloquet.

His essays on life, work, medicine and spirit are published in "News From Indian Country," and you can find the link to his stories and more on our website at thenorth1033.org.

"In the Spirit of Medicine" airs twice monthly on Northland Morning on The North, 1033.

Dr. Arne Vainio essays on life, work, medicine and spirit are published in "News From Indian Country," and you can find the link to his stories and more on our website at thenorth1033.org.

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77 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
In the Spirit of Medicine: "Don't you worry about me"
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
She took both of my hands in hers and looked straight into my eyes. I could see the strength and resolve of many hard years looking back at me. "Y...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Jun 24, 2021
  • Length: 06:17
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: Maybe he can recognize me now
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Caption: Father's Day 1982. Arne Vainio with Walt Boorsma and family, Credit: SUSAN BOORSMA
There are maybe a double handful of people I really credit with my becoming a doctor. Walt Boorsma is one of them. I first met him when I was about...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Jun 24, 2021
  • Length: 06:45
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: "Shoulder!"
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
"Dr. Vainio, I'm so glad you were there," she said. It is often during critical events in healthcare that medical students learn from their mentor...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: May 18, 2021
  • Length: 06:27
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: He wanted me to tell you he was sorry
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Caption: "After Church", Credit: ALLISON LOAR/FLICKR
"I deserve to die alone, Dr. Vainio. I was never any kind of father and I stopped at the bar on my way home every time I got paid. I never took him...

  • Added: May 10, 2021
  • Length: 07:02
In the Spirit of Medicine: we need you
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Caption: 2020 National Hoop Dance Championships, Phoenix, AZ, Credit: ©LISA JOHNSON
“I don’t want you to get the impression we’re just putting you on a medicine to hide your problems. Having depression is more common than you know....

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Apr 29, 2021
  • Length: 06:57
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: Nursing is a hands-on profession
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
I think back to a year ago. There was an entire household with multiple generations living together and they were too sick to come to the clinic fo...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Apr 29, 2021
  • Length: 06:14
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: Being open and honest about the fear of seizures
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Caption: Bob Kuster, Credit: SHERRI MONROE. USED WITH PERMISSION.
He has finally been able to talk about his seizures and has talked to a group of pharmacy students and talked to a group at the college. It's like ...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Apr 29, 2021
  • Length: 06:39
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: How do you want to be remembered?
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
She was 94 pounds and 28 years old, but you couldn't tell her age by looking at her. She had the rotting teeth that come with using meth. But mostl...

  • Added: May 10, 2021
  • Length: 06:11
In the Spirit of Medicine: "Even in death do we serve life"
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
There were four students working with the body we were studying and we didn’t know anything about him as a person. The medical school was very expl...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: May 11, 2021
  • Length: 06:09
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: vaccine myths
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
The COVID-19 pandemic has been with us for almost a year. In that year businesses have closed and people have lost jobs. Wearing masks and keeping ...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: May 11, 2021
  • Length: 05:24
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: the COVID vaccine
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
"That means we need to continue to wear masks, keep our social distance, wash our hands frequently, avoid public gatherings and sanitize freque...

Bought by Northern Community Radio - KAXE & KBXE, Minnesota and WTIP


  • Added: Feb 10, 2021
  • Length: 04:47
  • Purchases: 2
In the Spirit of Medicine: a single candle lights the darkness
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
"The cemetery is far from city lights and is surrounded by tall pine trees. We are close to the same latitude as Finland and my grandmother woul...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Feb 09, 2021
  • Length: 06:09
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: "Sons of Suicides Seldom Do Well."
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
In the Spirit of Medicine features the essays of Dr. Arne Vainio, an enrolled member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and a family practice docto...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Feb 09, 2021
  • Length: 05:53
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: I always blamed myself
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
"She was looking down into one of the barrels and once she started talking, the words came out and it was like she couldn’t stop. She was sobbing...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Feb 09, 2021
  • Length: 06:10
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: How long have I known you?
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
"Money was short and you ran out of heating fuel in the middle of winter. I expect those were some bad days. You didn’t tell me about that until af...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Feb 10, 2021
  • Length: 07:11
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: Winter is coming and I’m not ready for it
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
Do the leaves remember those from last year? In the heat of summer, the bright green shimmers of forever. Then the fall. The bitter cold. They show...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: May 11, 2021
  • Length: 06:59
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: I just got back from Atlanta
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
"I was almost to my hotel and a man was kneeling on the sidewalk pulling a trumpet out of its case. I was well past him and was about to cross ...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Feb 09, 2021
  • Length: 07:08
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: always remember you are loved
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
You told me you didn’t feel you contributed anything to anyone anymore. My father, your brother, died when I was four years old. I have maybe t...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Sep 29, 2020
  • Length: 06:54
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: the journey of Chief Buffalo and this pipe
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Caption: Portrait of Chief Buffalo, over-painted enlargement, possibly from a double-portrait (possibly an ambrotype). He was born at La Pointe on Madeline Island in about 1759, and died 7 September 1855 at La Pointe, Credit: Wisconsin Historical Society
The story of the pipe and the path and struggles it took to get to this ceremony reached deep inside me. Toward the end of the ceremony we all walk...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Sep 30, 2020
  • Length: 06:59
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: My grandmother's sewing machine, Part 2
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
I have no doubt this sewing machine made face masks over a hundred years ago and my grandmother would have made masks. There was a huge second wa...

Bought by Northern Community Radio - KAXE & KBXE, Minnesota and WTIP


  • Added: Sep 30, 2020
  • Length: 10:11
  • Purchases: 2