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
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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
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...

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  • Added: Jun 24, 2021
  • Length: 06:45
  • Purchases: 1
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"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...

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  • Added: May 18, 2021
  • Length: 06:27
  • Purchases: 1
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
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....

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  • Added: Apr 29, 2021
  • Length: 06:57
  • Purchases: 1
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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...

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  • Added: Apr 29, 2021
  • Length: 06:14
  • Purchases: 1
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 ...

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  • Added: Apr 29, 2021
  • Length: 06:39
  • Purchases: 1
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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
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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...

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  • Added: May 11, 2021
  • Length: 06:09
  • Purchases: 1
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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 ...

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  • Added: May 11, 2021
  • Length: 05:24
  • Purchases: 1
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"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
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"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...

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  • Added: Feb 09, 2021
  • Length: 06:09
  • Purchases: 1
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...

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  • Added: Feb 09, 2021
  • Length: 05:53
  • Purchases: 1
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...

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  • Added: Feb 09, 2021
  • Length: 06:10
  • Purchases: 1
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"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...

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  • Added: Feb 10, 2021
  • Length: 07:11
  • Purchases: 1
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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...

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  • Added: May 11, 2021
  • Length: 06:59
  • Purchases: 1
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"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 ...

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  • Added: Feb 09, 2021
  • Length: 07:08
  • Purchases: 1
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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...

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  • Added: Sep 29, 2020
  • Length: 06:54
  • Purchases: 1
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
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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