Staff Spotlight:
Patrick Kills Crow
In honor of Veteran's Day this week, we want to introduce an important part of the DIFRC Team, Patrick Kills Crow. Patrick is an Army Veteran of the Vietnam War, a Native American boarding school survivor, and the Outreach Coordinator for DIFRC. Patrick has been with DIFRC for 2 years and started out working during the census and has since then become a great asset to help Native's in Denver with backgrounds and trauma similar to his own.
Patrick grew up in Ft. Yates North Dakota, graduated from a boarding school in 1965 and went into the Job Corps for 13 months before going into the military for three and a half years. Patrick was deployed into Vietnam in 1968 and after he was discharged he moved to Denver to live with his brother. It wasn't long after he moved to Denver that Patrick started suffering from PTSD which turned into alcoholism. Patrick's brother took him back home to the Standing Rock Sioux reservation for traditional healing and Patrick has been sober the 46 years since then.
As the Outreach Coordinator, Patrick connects with community members, elders and unhoused relatives to asses their needs like medical care, clothing, food, housing, and more and connect them to services. Many of the Natives Patrick assists need help getting a Colorado license using their tribal ID's and help figuring out leasing paperwork for housing. The main bulk of his job however, is helping people push past their mistrust in the government and those of European descent to access support.
"I myself grew up at a boarding school in Oklahoma and some of my elders go even farther back than that. A lot of our elders go back to when they gave out blankets with small pox so there is a huge mistrust against the initial colonization and it's brought to their adulthood," Patrick said.
He explained that the help for this trauma was never really available until recently and because of that, many Natives turned to self-medicating with alcohol. Many left their ghosts on the reservation to find better lives in the city, but without the proper paperwork and a lack of knowledge, many obstacles are created. Patrick uses his relation to what they're going though to help rebuild trust and help them create a better life.
"I've been homeless, I've dealt with PTSD after Vietnam, so I get it," Patrick said. "There were no talking groups back then. I was only 17 when I went overseas to get away from drugs on the reservation, you remember things like that. I am kind of paying it forward because my Creator gave me a chance to be helpful, so that's what I'm doing. The city life really is a culture shock, and many Natives that come here just need a helping hand," he said.
When he's not at DIFRC, Patrick enjoys spending time with his grandson (featured in the first photo of this newsletter above) and immediate family. He enjoys what he does with DIFRC and although it's hard to think back on his past he hopes that it helps lead to a better life for those like him.
Ultimately, Patrick strives to see a world where all Natives have permanent housing and are able to escape from whatever ghosts they're running from.
"We’ve lost everything except hope," he said.
