The Nashville Area is the most geographically and culturally diverse Area within IHS. This poses unique challenges to our staff and requires us to use creativity, flexibility, and understanding in accomplishing our mission. The Nashville Area logo tries to capture this on a number of different levels, using image and color associations found in Native American culture and traditional heraldry.
In the center a representation of the states that make up the Nashville Area is shown. This symbolizes the geographic extremes and diversity of the Area. The individual states are not identified symbolizing that we work together as a unit to accomplish our mission. The light blue background behind the states traditionally represents health, healing, and understanding; qualities that form the core of our mission. The dark blue of the outer band is symbolic of knowledge, integrity, and sincerity. These are the qualities that bring our actions together into an effective and efficient organization. The caduceus and feather is the traditional symbol of the Indian Health Service and serves to remind us that we are part of a larger, nationwide organization dedicated to health and well-being of American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Integrated into an outer band of the logo is the medicine wheel, a traditional symbol in Native American culture. The medicine wheel has many layers of symbolism. It represents the four directions (North, South, East, and West) brought together in a common union. It is a symbol of how we bring together ideas from across the Area to solve our problems. The colors each have their own significance and also represent the stages of life. The wheel is a physical representation of the cycle of life and symbolizes our journey toward a common goal.