Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2002)
gR.COLL. 75 .SIB v. 7 no. 4 f February fy 21, 082 Til fi Spflygy P.O. Box 870 Warm Springs, OR 97761 ECRWSS Postal Patron Warm Springs, OR 97761 US. Postage Bulk Rate Permit No. 2 Warm Springs, OR 97761 35 cents Coyote Aews est P75 News from the Warm Springs Indian Reservation Feb. 21, 2002 Vol. 27, No. 4 ymoo A flight back in time Computer images show Columbia before the dams By Dave McMechan Spiljcij Tymoo staff You are in an airplane fly ing above the Columbia River. The landscape below in cludes Celilo Falls, the Five Mile Rapids, and other nearby fishing areas. In the airplane you can fly up as high as 12,000 feet, or as low to the ground as 1,700 feet. The landmarks - Miller Is land and 18-Mile Island, for instance - can be viewed in great detail. You can see the detail of the rapids as the water rushes down the falls. The whole landscape is pre sented in a computerized pro gram. The program resembles a video game, one where you control a simulated aircraft with a computer joystick. This program is unique in that it provides a look back in time, to the days before con struction of The Dalles and Bonneville dams. The river as shown in the computer program no longer exists. The dams formed large res ervoirs where the rapids and free-flowing river used to be. See FLYOVER on page 10 Report weighs merits of tribal, IHS partnership "To me, the most important thing is that this sets a direction for the future. " - Garland Brunoe By Dave McMechan Spilyay Staff A recent report on the Warm Springs Health and Wellness Center presents some interesting news. Since 1988, the average life expectancy of local residents has increased by several years. And the number of local people receiving needed medi cal and dental care has gone up dramatically. The diabetes program at ihc Warm Springs Health and Wellness Center is a major suc cess, the report indicates. From the year 1993, when the ilealih and Wellness Cen ter was built, until the year 2001), the number of people visiting the clinic's diabetes program has increased by .100 percent. Better treatment of dialx-tcs has meant that the number of local people on Dialysis lias gone down by 80 percent. The information is con tained in a rcrt developed by the Indian Heath Service, and presented recently to Tribal Council. Some other sutixtics in the report include the following: The number of local resi dents visiting the dentist lias increased from 6.815 In-fore the Ilealih and Wellness Center Gorge casino has support at At least two things were made clear during recent home-base and district meet ings regarding gaming expan sion. First, tribal members are overwhelmingly in favor of improving the local job mar ket. And second, they are in favor of increasing revenue for the tribes. For these two reasons, there is strong support among was built, to 27,524 in the year 2000. That is an increase of over 400 percent. The number of people re ceiving pharmacy prescrip tions has gone from 74,154 in 1991-93, to 124,257 in 1998 2000, an increase of 68 percent. Visits to the local optom etry service were at 1,579 vis its per year during 1998-2000. This service did not exist lo cally until the new clinic was built in 1993. Physical therapy is also a service that did not exist in Warm Springs prior to con struction of the clinic. The number of physical therapy visits was nearly 3,000 in 1998-2000. The average age of death among Warm Springs residents has gone from 44 in the year 1988 (five years before the clinic was built), to 50 in the year 2000. The number is still too far below the national av erage. Accidents arc the number one cause of death among tribal members. Heart attacks and strokes were the next lead ing causes of death. The recent report by the Indian Health Service was completed at the request of the Tribal Council. A main reason why the Council wanted the HIS report many tribal members for the Columbia Gorge casino pro posal, said Rudy Clements, chairman of the gaming com mission. After talking with members of the Seekseequa District, Tribal Councilwoman Brenda Scott also said she feels the - Gorge casino option has wide spread support among the resi dents there. "People in the district are was to review where the tribes and HIS are in regard to their joint venture. "Wc wanted an update on the purpose of the joint ven ture, how wc arc doing, and arc wc on course," said Garland Brunoe, Council vice chair man. "Wc were concerned that the joint venture was starting to become weak, and that the parties needed to be reminded what this was intended to ac complish," said Brunoe. The IHS report addresses some concerns, but more im portantly the report can be used for future planning and monitoring of the joint ven ture, said Brunoe. To me, the most important thing is that this sets a direc tion for the future," he said. After hearing an overview of the contents of the report, presented by John I Icinx of the IHS, Council members indi cated they would like to have the IHS officials come back within the next couple of months for further discussion. Presentation of the report -the condensed version of which is 137 pages long - took most of the day, leaving no time for questions and com ments from the Tribal Coun cil members. In summarizing the findings eager to get moving," said Scott. Seekseequa residents held a district meeting on Monday of this week. Earlier in the month, two families held home-base meetings. "It has been very evident that there is overwhelming support for revenue genera tion," said Clements. "The comments have been that we need to go where the money is. That message is ' ' ' 1 " of the report, Heinz and his staff determined that the joint venture between the Confed erated Tribes and the II IS has been a success. If there had been no joint venture agreement in the early 1990s, then the tribes health program would likely still be housed in a small and out dated facility. "Patient dissatisfaction would be at an all-time high, and health status would be at an all time low," the report Working at the dental office of an appointment for a patient. 0 V7 y local gatherings coming from the people them selves." Like Councilwoman Scott, Clements said that many tribal members want to move forward sooner rather than later with the referendum. The Seekseequa District meeting early this week began with the showing of a gaming expansion video. The video outlines the fi nancial situation that the tribes are facing. In the video, tribal states. Since construction of the I lealth and Wellness Center in 1993, the tribes health pro gram has added 2,650 new pa tients. The report asks, I low could these additional patients have been served if there had been no joint venture? The II IS report also has rec ommendations on how the partnership between the tribes and IHS can be improved. Set HIS REPORT en 10 the clinic, Llla Martinez makes officials then discuss the op tions available to address the situation. A new source of revenue is needed to replace the diminish ing amount of timber revenue, the officials explain. The video then compares the level of in come that would be derived from a casino at the Gorge, compared to one on the reser vation. See CASINO on page 10 Powwow at Simnasho At left, drummers provide music at the recent Lincoln's Birthday Powwow, held the weekend of Feb. 8-10 at the Simnasho Longhouse. The event was a joyful one for the many people who participated. More photos of the powwow are on pages 6 and 10. (The photo above shows a beaded decoration from a dancer's costume.) Davt McMechanTh Spilyay Local people featured in series of ads The Office of National Drug Control Policy is run ning a scries of anti-drug ad vertisements in Native Ameri can newspapers across the US A number of kxral residents are featured in the advertise ments. The full-page ads are run ning in tribal papers such as the Spilyay and the Yakama Nation Review, as well as in In dian Country Today. The advertisements focus on the need for adults and el ders to help young people keep away from drugs. The first ad is running in this edition of the Spilyay, on page 5. The ad shows Cal Pon cho and his young relative Tcryl I lorendo. Poncho is a civil engineer technician with the local Bu reau of Indian Affairs Road De partment. Poncho said he was more than happy to participate in the anti-drug campaign. Hie advertisements, he said, present a positive image of In dian families. "It's good that something like this can be shown. It's rwit all bad news," d Poncha The ads, he says, "show In dian families going about their daily lives just like everyone else." Set ANTI-DRUG ADS m 10 Spilyay tyioo.