Isabelle Grout named Health Board youth delegate

Grand Ronde Tribal youth Isabelle Grout was selected as one of 14 Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board youth delegates and attended the Health Board’s meeting with the California Rural Indian Health Board held in Lincoln, Calif., on Tuesday, July 16.

The youth delegates represent 43 member Tribes in Idaho, Oregon and Washington and serve one-year terms from July 2019 through June 2020. They collaborate to share their voice on health programs and policies that affect young people, and learn about health and wellness careers.

Grout, 15, will be a junior at Willamina High School and currently serves as Senior Miss Grand Ronde and chairwoman of the Grand Ronde Youth Council. She also was a summer intern at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, learning about and sharing the Tribe’s historical connection to Tomanowos.

“My future plans are to become a pediatric intensive care unit nurse,” Grout said in her bio posted at www.npaihb.org. “This is one of the biggest reasons I applied to become a NPAIHB youth delegate. Some issues that are close to my heart are helping teens like myself to cope with anxiety and depression. Helping others love and accept each other whether they are LGBTQ+, in recovery, struggling with mental illness or just need a friend is one of my main focuses in life. I hope that serving on this delegation will help me broaden my skills to help others wherever my adventures lead me.”

Youth delegates are scheduled to convene again at a winter board meeting and virtually to learn from Tribal and nonTribal organizations and leaders in the health care field. They also will present workshops and participate in the THRIVE Conference in Portland, Ore., and with the Administration for Native Americans I-LEAD Youth Summit.

She is the daughter of Peter and Genifer Grout.