Hmong traditional dress
Photo courtesy of UMD SEAA Association

One reason why health care providers need to be aware of folk illness beliefs is because some folk practices and treatments may be potentially hazardous. While rare, the potential for serious harm does exist (Pachter, 691). A greater reason to understand the cultural health practices of a population for which the practitioner provides care is to attempt to incorporate the folk remedies into the total treatment plan. If the patient is suffering from a mild, self-limited illness, the provider may be able to incorporate benign behaviors that fit into the cultural beliefs of the patient while waiting for the illness to resolve. Another method of negotiation between the systems is the collaboration and consultation between folk healers and medical practitioners. Replacing dangerous practices with alternatives that fit into the patient's ethnocultural belief system are often met with acceptance (Pachter, 693). Utilizing all of the resources within one's community defers some of the responsibility to other providers within the community while respecting the patient's wishes to achieve physical, spiritual and mental wellness.

Given the population statistics reviewed earlier that show Minnesota to be predominantly white, how did the state become a leader in providing health care to multiple cultures? In the past the amount of non-white persons living in Minnesota was very small. While this is still true, health care providers recognized the need to provide quality care for persons of all cultures and began to institute some ways to decrease the anxiety of the patient.