Pam Belgarde This is Me

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1. 1. ICT [2000/12/20] Rez-robics shake it up with Elaine Miles and Drew Lacapa

   www.indiancountry.com/?2428 - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/20/2000   Last Visited: 1/5/2004

   "When I asked Drew to do it," says co-producer Pam Belgarde, "He said, 'On one condition, you get me a leopard skin leotard!'"
   ...
   "Laughter is sacred," says Belgarde, who choreographed the aerobic dance moves with Navajo martial arts expert Reggie Mitchell and grass dancer Leon Thompson.
   ...
   After recently filming in Albuquerque and Isleta Pueblo, Belgarde said the message of food and exercise to combat diabetes is one that is close to home.
   
   Belgarde watched Turtle Mountain Chippewa family members in North Dakota become blind, lose limbs and die from diabetes.
   ...
   While Lacapa told Belgarde the leopard skin leotard would get him in the game, Lacapa made one more funnyman request of Rhine.
   ...
   Belgarde said the actress and comedian duo Miles/Lacapa will be a drawing card for the video, now being edited and prepared for distribution free of charge.
   ...
   "There are a lot of good-hearted people out there," Belgarde said.
   
   Former producer of Native America Calling and host of its Wellness Edition, Belgarde is now video and radio producer at Four Directions Health Communications in Shiprock.
   ...
   "It's a wonderful medical center," Belgarde said of the Shiprock Indian Health Service hospital, Dr. Chris Percy and staff, promoting cutting-edge creativity.
   ...
   Belgarde said the television spot shows a Navajo grandmother listening at the hogan door as relatives ask the question, "Did she get her check yet?"
   
   "She gets in her truck and peels out. I just love it."
   
   Focused on health promotion for Native people, Belgarde sees her role as a gift from the Creator.
   
   "I've always been fitness-oriented."
   
   Earlier, she produced the eight-minute video, "Fry bread, just say 'no,'" in hopes of encouraging Indian people to reduce the amount of fried foods in their diets that contribute to heart disease and poor health.
   
   While passing through the diabetes clinic at the Shiprock hospital one day, she noticed the same dull television videos and pamphlets that have always been offered in Indian Health Service hospital waiting rooms.
   
   "Everyone was staring into space."
   
   That was when Belgarde decided that humor is the way to go.
   
   Changing habits is difficult, she said, but it can save lives threatened by diabetes, heart disease and other chronic diseases.
   ...
   Although healthy foods are not always available at stores in and around Indian country, Belgarde said she takes the time to cook meals, rather than picking up fast foods, because she wants to stay alive.
   
   "I want to be here for my son and grandchildren."
   
   For more information on "Rez-robics," planned for release in the spring, contact DreamCatchers nationwide at (800) 400-8433 or Belgarde for Navajo area distribution at (505) 368-6494.

2. 2. Native America Calling

   www.nativeamericacalling.org/n - [Cached]

   Last Visited: 1/22/2008

   Guests include Pam Belgarde (Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibway) First Producer of NAC, Frank Blythe (Eastern Cherokee & Sisseton Dakota) Original Executive Producer of NAC, and Harlan McKosato (Sac and Fox & Ioway) Original Associate Producer of NAC and Former Host.

3. 3. Vision Maker Newsletter Vol. 7, issue 2: Native Americans in the 21st Century - Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

   www.nativetelecom.org/news/nlv - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/4/2004   Last Visited: 9/23/2005

   Pamila Belgarde (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) Producer Belgarde began her career in public broadcasting as the first Producer/Director of Native America Calling, the flagship daily public affairs program on American Indian Radio on Satellite (AIROS). She worked as a producer for Four Directions Health Communications, Prairie Public Television and Red-Horse Productions before starting her own independent production company, Well Native Productions in 2001.