Nathan Blacksmith is the Sacramento Native American Health Center’s first chief traditional health officer, and his role was recently created to weave cultural practices and medicines through the center's services.One of those cultural practices is gathering in a drum circle. Blacksmith said the beating of a drum and the accompanying vocals creates a spiritual song, brought to life with a sacred sense of pride and purpose."There’s a lot that the drum has to offer," Blacksmith said. "We believe that the songs and the words and the songs themselves have healing abilities and healing powers. Good things are going to happen, people are going to get well, people are going to get healthy again."Blacksmith said it is all about going back to the basics by providing alternative avenues for relief. Part of the chief traditional health officer's task is to develop a suite of services. That also includes medicines that can be derived from plants.Some of those plants can be found at the California State Indian Museum. Manzanita was used by some tribes to help with nausea and poison oak rashes; the Yucca plant was used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and elderberry was used to reduce fevers and other cold and flu symptoms."Our wonderful ethnobotanist works with our patients and provides herbal supplements and treatment prescriptions to help folks become well and healthy," Blacksmith said.Sage and Cedar are among the natural elements also offered at the health center. Sage is central to a process called "smudging," which involves burning an herb to cleanse the soul. Blacksmith said once it is burned, you can lightly put it over yourself and meditate or pray with it. Cedar can be used for aromatherapy.Britta Guerrero, the Sacramento Native American Health Center's CEO, said she hopes that with Blacksmith on board, every service will be offered through a cultural lens."He is the spark that ignites the flame," Guerrero said. "He helps ground us in that spiritual component, so we can deliver health services that are fully wraparound, and also take into account spiritual wellness."It is a role Blacksmith does not take lightly. He knows that just as drumming has its own rhythm, reintroducing tradition must be done at its own pace."These are all things that have to be rolled out very strategic and very slow, so that folks are comfortable and understanding of what they represent and what they really bring to the community," Blacksmith said.The Sacramento Native American Health Center is also planning to open a second, larger location which staff members said will offer even more traditional healing methods.