Braden D. Parmer, M.D., medical director for CPN Health Services, had an interest in working for his Tribe when he was first starting out, but it wasn’t until last year that he had the opportunity.
Parmer joined the CPNHS team in March of 2024, and he serves as medical director for CPNHS and also as a staff family physician at the West Clinic.
“Working for the Tribe has been nothing short of exceptional,” Parmer said. “When I first got here, I knew very little of the IHS (Indian Health Services) world. There has been a lot to learn, for sure.”
He said the business model of modern medicine can sometimes feel defeating to physicians, who just want to treat patients and help improve the health of their communities. This is one area where CPNHS is set apart.
“I feel like IHS is unfortunately one of the best kept secrets in modern medicine,” he said. “It is patient-centric, family focused, community enriching and tribal supporting. So many of the barriers to treatment I have struck my head against over the years are non-existent here.”
Parmer said most of his time at CPNHS is spent with patients, something that is important to him in his professional life.
“In my previous clinic, I considered my patients as family. I expect no difference with CPNHS as I meet so many new patients here,” he said. “Being with my patients and helping guide them through their trials and triumphs is something very special to me.”
In his role as medical director, Parmer said he is part of a large team with a shared goal of providing comprehensive and excellent patient care and giving Tribal members security and autonomy when it comes to their health.
“It’d be a fool’s errand to believe one person could achieve this,” he said. “It takes a small army of people to constantly brainstorm and make decisions to make sure we remain focused and achieve our goals. I am simply a part of that army, surrounded by some of the finest and most capable teammates I have ever met.”
Coming back home to the Tribe
“Growing up, my mother and grandfather frequently talked about Tribal history and what it means to be a Tribal member,” Parmer, a member of the Bourassa family, said. “But when I was young, the infrastructure of CPN was quite small and there wasn’t much to see. I heard their words, but it was lost on me.”
During the 1990s, he said he and his family attended some of the larger Tribal events, and he carried a “flimsy, worn-out CDIB” in his wallet, but otherwise wasn’t very involved in the Tribe.
For him, a turning point came when he started to attend college.
“I was poor. It was I-ride-a-cheap-bike-everywhere-because-I-can’t-afford-gas kind of poor,” Parmer said. “And I remember that CPN gave me a $1,500 per year scholarship. I suppose now that may not sound like a huge amount, given the cost of everything, but it was huge for me.”
That money, Parmer said, helped him pay rent and kept him fed.
It was also in college that he started to learn the history of Indigenous tribes in the United States of America through a Native Peoples class.
“It was so fascinating, I read the textbook cover to cover. It was history that I had never heard before. It was history, at least at the time, that wasn’t making it to textbooks of lower levels of education,” he said. “It was here that the words of my grandfather and mother resonated from my past. I began to see what it actually means to be Citizen Potawatomi Nation.”
Parmer and his family became more involved in the Tribe, and as he came toward the end of his medical training, he said he had become so invested that he wanted to work for CPN. However, at that time, it “just didn’t come to fruition,” and he took on a position with SSM Health/SMCC in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
It was seven years later before he was approached by Richard Brown, CPN human resource director, and Chris Skillings, CPNHS director, about the position he holds now. Despite being happily employed, he said he had “long, prayerful discussions” with his wife and ultimately decided to come work for his Tribe.
“The rest is history!” he said.
The early years
Parmer grew up in Shawnee, Oklahoma, attending schools in the South Rock Creek area and Tecumseh High School, where he graduated as valedictorian.
After graduation, he attended East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma. He also worked as an optometric assistant/optician for four years, with the intention of being an optometrist, before deciding to pursue medicine instead. After graduating with honors, he attended the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, where he made the decision to become a family physician.
He graduated with honors from OU, then moved to Indiana to attend the Fort Wayne Medical Education residency program, where he was chief resident in his final year.
“This was exactly where I belonged,” Parmer said. “We chose this location because this residency was procedurally heavy, academically excellent and competitive. We absolutely poured ourselves into it, and it was unforgettable. By the end of it, my fellow residents were so close, I felt confident that any of us would lay down our lives for the other.”
Once his training was complete, he moved back to Shawnee, where he worked for SSM Health/SMCC before accepting his position with CPNHS.
Parmer lives in Shawnee with his wife, Katrina, and two children, Rhett and Remi, as well as a dog named Lu and a cat named Elbee.
He attends Northridge Church of Christ and said his wife calls him a “professional hobbyist,” with interests including board games, painting miniatures, horology, solving puzzles, playing racquetball and pickleball, inline skating, singing at church, playing video games with his children, and helping coach his son’s baseball team, just to name a few.
“In every chapter of my life, I have been immensely blessed to be surrounded by people who have lifted me up and inspired me,” he said. “I think this is key to finding some kind of success in life. Not only surrounding yourself with those who make you better, but also realizing how important it is that you do the same for them.”