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: The Red Guitar
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 doctor ...

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


  • Added: Dec 23, 2019
  • Length: 07:37
  • Purchases: 2
In the Spirit of Medicine: my brother died this morning
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Caption: Detail of artwork by Jesse Vainio, Credit: Credit ©Jesse Vainio. Courtesy Arne Vainio
You have too much to offer to let this gift go. This gift is a blessing, but it can also be a burden and a curse. When Jake plays the piano, there’...

  • Added: Jun 19, 2020
  • Length: 09:02
In the Spirit of Medicine: I just knew something wasn't right
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
Women are from Venus, men are from Mars. That’s true in personal interactions, but it’s also true when it comes to heart disease. Most heart dis...

Bought by WOUB and WTIP


  • Added: Jan 24, 2020
  • Length: 06:38
  • Purchases: 2
In the Spirit of Medicine: you need to hold my hand
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
Dr. Vainio, am I going to die? Yes. And there's nothing you can do? No. I'm afraid to die. Should I be? I don't know, Agnes. I don't know.

  • Added: Jun 19, 2020
  • Length: 06:32
In the Spirit of Medicine: the peak of the mountain
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
I always consider being a doctor the peak of the mountain in the medical field. It makes a difference where you started from when you’re stan...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Jun 19, 2020
  • Length: 06:01
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: the right words will come
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Caption: The Center of American Indian and Minority Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth Campus gave Indigenous youth ia taste of hands-on experiential learning last month. Students got to try using medical techniques like blood pressure ch, Credit: Credit Association of American Indian Physicians/Center of American Indian and Minority Health
These young doctors spent their entire lives aiming for the stars and have worked tirelessly to fill those seats in the classroom. They have self-s...

  • Added: Jun 19, 2020
  • Length: 06:51
In the Spirit of Medicine: believe that what you have to say is important
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
Ojibwe author Jim Northrup took me aside at his seventieth birthday party a couple of years ago and told me it was time for me to write a book.

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Jun 19, 2020
  • Length: 06:31
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: They don’t tell you how to give bad news in medical school
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Caption: Dr. Arne Vainio, Credit: Ivy Vainio
If I had told her she had lung cancer on that Thursday, the diagnosis of “pneumonia” never would have been in quotes. She would have continued to...

  • Added: Jun 19, 2020
  • Length: 06:14
In the Spirit of Medicine: It was a beautiful spring day
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
It was a beautiful spring day and I was on call. I was able to spend some time on this Saturday morning with Ivy and Jacob and we walked along th...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Jun 19, 2020
  • Length: 06:45
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: Gijigijigaaneshinh
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
“A great sickness has been visited upon us as human beings. This happened to us as Native people a long time ago and it devastated us and killed...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Jun 19, 2020
  • Length: 07:19
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: Zoongide'iwin is the Ojibwe word for courage
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
Zoongide’iwin is the Ojibwe word for courage and this is one of our grandfather teachings. Zoongide’iwin means to do what is right when the consequ...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Jun 19, 2020
  • Length: 04:13
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: what I've been doing isn't enough
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Caption: In a photo from last fall, Dr. Arne Vainio (center) with C.W. Hall, MD (left), a member of the Blackfeet Nation in western Montana and a physician in his second year of residency. Richard Campbell (right) is a third year medical student is completing a ro, Credit: Credit Association of American Indian Physicians/Facebook
I spent time talking with students at the conference and was struck by how much difference even just a short conversation could have with someon...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Jun 19, 2020
  • Length: 07:30
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: Black Lives Matter
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
Death has always been patient. For some it comes after a long and full life with boats and vacations and mortgages and big weddings and handshakes...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Jun 19, 2020
  • Length: 06:10
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: My grandmother's sewing machine, Part 1
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Piece image
She had a Singer treadle sewing machine and I was fascinated by the steady “click-click-click” of the needle going up and down. I watched her ro...

  • Added: Sep 29, 2020
  • Length: 07:46
In the Spirit of Medicine: I will ALWAYS be your friend
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 doctor...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Jul 28, 2020
  • Length: 08:11
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: you were put here for a purpose
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Caption: Jim Northrup in 2012, Credit: Ivy Vainio. Used with permission.
At his 70th birthday party, he took me aside and it was like a little ceremony with just me and him in the corner. “Arne, you need to write. I...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Sep 29, 2020
  • Length: 06:27
  • Purchases: 1
In the Spirit of Medicine: in August I danced for the first time
From: WDSE
Series: In the Spirit of Medicine
Caption: Dr. Arne Vainio dances for the first time in his gifted regalia, Credit: Ivy Vainio. Used with permission.
George has always told me seeing a doctor dancing would be healing for everyone and I discovered that meant me as much as anyone else. ...

Bought by WTIP


  • Added: Sep 29, 2020
  • Length: 05:38
  • 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
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: 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