Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 28, 2006)
Received on: 10-05-06 Spilyay tymoo SCA OrColl )X 870 75 .S6 8 V. 31 no. 20 September 28, 2006 Spilyay Tymoo« I / / Coyote News, est. 1976 / 97761 ECR WSS Postal Patron — SS'"”"“«, September 28, 2006 ^ U.S. Postage PRSRTSTD Warm Springs, OR 97761 UnWO R % Ï 0 3 ^ 05 \ &ugene Chairman Funding crisis hits Managed Care answers casino questions ■ H H H H H B H H H H B H H H H H H H H H H H H H IH H H H H H M n H H n n H H H H H H H H H i By David McMechan Spilyay Tymoo In a recent letter mailed to tribal m ember households, Tribal Council Chairman Ron Suppah answered ques tions that many in the community have regarding the tribal gaming enterprise. M any people have wondered, for instance, why it is taking so long to de velop the Bridge o f the Gods Casino at Cascade Locks. “The answer is that the process of taking the Cascade Locks casino site into trust status, which must occur be fore we can start construction, is a long and complicated process that requires decisions at the highest level of the . federal government,” said Suppah. “Federal law requires a thorough and detailed environmental impact state ment that usually takes a year or two to prepare,” he said. “In addition, while we have unified support from the local community in the gorge, we are facing well-funded opponents in the Grand Ronde Tribe and a Portland group, the Friends of the Gorge.” In the letter to tribal households, Suppah says, “There are plenty of good reasons to be optim istic about our chances for success. In just the past few months, we have gotten dramatic, posi tive results — including significant vic tories over our opponents who tried to kill our project in Congress.” The U.S. Flouse of Representatives earlier this month considered a bill that would restrict off-reservation casinos. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., included a provision that would have allowed the Bridge of the Gods Casino to proceed under cur rent federal rules; so neither the bill’s passage nor its failure would not have affected the tribes’ current plans. The Pombo bill failed, and the tribes are pursuing the Bridge of the Gods Ca sino in accordance with the existing ‘two-part test’ of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act o f 1988. Chairman Suppah’s letter also ad dresses issues such as the projected rev enue from a gorge casino, comparison o f an on-reservation alternative, and the next steps in the approval process. Festival of Nations T ribal m em bers are invited this weekend, Sept. 29-Oct. 1, to the Festi val o f Nations at Cascade Locks. The festival is a celebration of cultures, and includes tribal dancing, drumming and flute music, Filipino and 4-H Hispanic dancers, a marimba band, a mariachi band, arts and crafts, and food. Anyone with questions about the Fes tival of Nations, or about the Gorge ca sino project, call Margie Tuckta, gaming special projects director, at 553-4883; or Floyd Calica, of the Bridge of the Gods project team, at 553-1112 ext. 3420. Indian Nite Out tonight The Indian Nite Out and Pow wow is this evening, Thursday, S ep t. 28 at the A gen cy Longhouse. Dinner is at 6 p.m. and the powwow is at 7. There will be prizes, games, dancing, cel ebration o f sobriety and drug- and alcohol-awareness. The powwow and Indian Nite Out are presented by the Warm Springs Meth Task Force. The Confederated Tribe’s Man aged Care program is facing a se v ere sh o rtag e o f d o llars for healthcare services off the reserva tion. The Managed Care program is currently dependent upon funding from the fed era l go v ern m en t through Indian Health Services. The funding is increasingly inad equate, said Alike Alarcotte, direc tor o f Managed Care. Healthcare costs increased signifi- candy in 2004 and continued to in crease in 2005. These increasing costs led to the restriction of referrals for healthcare off the reservation beginning in }uly 2005, and forced Alanaged Care to cover only category I services. Category I services are those neces sary to prevent the immediate death or serious impairment of the health of the individual. Healthcare costs are continuing to increase in 2006, said Alarcotte. The Oregon Health Plan has made significant cuts over the last two years, which has shifted hundreds of thou sands of dollars in costs to the Alan- aged Care program. If there are no changes made in its current rate o f spending, the entire Alanaged Care program budget will be spent, and its reserve fund will be gone before the end of the year. Managed Care policies To ensure that Managed Care has funds to pay for illnesses and injuries which may cause immediate death or serious, long-term health problems for the individual, the Alanaged Care pro gram will be adhering to the following policies: Payment for hospital admissions, as well as all referrals, will be limited to the strictest interpretation of Category I (services necessary to prevent the immediate death or serious impairment o f the health of the individual). Every questionable emergency room visit will be closely reviewed by IHS physicians. Payment will continue to be denied for non-emergency visits to a 50 cents hospital emergency room. Increased use of alternate resources is essential. Failure of eligible patients to apply for OHP will continue to be a reason for denial of payment by MCP. In addition, all patients will be strongly encouraged to apply for any resources available to them, such as insurance through their employer; or Part B Aledi- care. Strict adherence to Alanaged Care program administrative rules, including prior authorization for referrals to non- IHS providers, will be followed. Ser vices that Alanaged Care provided with savings while within budget over the years will have to be eliminated. See MANAGED CARE on 11 Council addressing issues raised in survey By Maren Cohn Warm Springs Ventures Dave McMechan/Spilyay Mary Ann Meanus won the Judges Choice Award in The Thirteenth Annual Tribal Member Art Show at the Museum at Warm Springs. Her winning artwork of hand-made dolls is called “C’amcmit,” or the “Card Game.” The opening reception for the art show is this evening, Thursday, Sept. 28, at the museum. In response to this summer’s opin ion research study, Tribal Council has initiated a series o f workshop sessions to address three areas o f concern: the economy, tribal adm inistration, and tribal governance. The Council will convene a two-day session toward the end o f October to begin its work. After that, Council will meet as nec essary to follow up on proposals. To prepare for the meetings, a team from Warm Springs Ventures is work ing with Secretary-Treasurer Jody Calica and OSU extension director Teresa Hogue to draft three working papers on the topics of economic strategy, ad ministration and governance. The papers draw heavily on the opin ion research in laying out issues that need to be addressed. The working papers develop a set of objectives for the Council to con sider and recom m end strategies for reaching those objectives. The goal is to help Tribal Council identify the issues, break them down into manageable components, and be gin talk in g about how to address them. Survey to guide tribal health plan By Leslie M itts Spilyay Tymoo A new survey is allowing health of ficials to collect accurate data about tribal members regarding health habits and disease. With the results, health officials plan to create the tribal health plan. Results of the survey will be presented to Tribal Council, several department and tribal members. Joyce Oberly, public health educa tor, said the primary goal of the sur vey is to assess the knowledge, behav iors and attitudes of tribal members with regard to prevention o f cardio vascular disease, diabetes, cancer, sub stance abuse and other health topics— something that was not accurately de picted in previous surveys conducted in the state. In Oberly’s opinion, it is a survey that directly impacts tribal members in a big way. “The results from this sur vey ultimately impact them healthwise,” she said. The survey, entitled the Behavioral Risk Factor Survey (BRFS) uses data collected from approximately 400 tribal members between 18 and 60 years of age. Questions can range from drug use and sexual activity to cancer or diabe tes, Oberly said. However, there is no association between the finished survey and the signed consent forms provided by tribal members. Because o f the sensitivity o f the questions, Oberly said, a referral sheet was also provided with a list of depart ments that can provide help in the form o f counseling, testing, or other methods. According to Oberly, recruitm ent for survey participants began in July. She hopes to finish by the end of Sep tember. Tribal members were recruited for the survey randomly. Upon completion of the survey, par ticipants received an insulated kool-pac and Nike shoes. For some, the survey was conducted in either the Warm Springs Agency For, tribal members, the survey was made slightly more specific and now includes options regarding religion or cultural as p ects o f health. L o n g h o u se or the S im n ash o Longhouse— providing the participants and their families with a free meal. The survey questions came from a prior statewide phone survey, Oberly said. However, she said, “Typically when the state BRFS study is conducted, trib e s and o th er m in o ritie s are underrepresented.” “The phone survey isn’t good for reservatio ns because som e people don’t have phones,” she explained, and many have cell phones or limited ac cess to a phone. For tribal members, the survey was made slightly more specific and now includes options regarding religion or cultural aspects o f health. “It includes options about longhouses, shaker, those religions,” Oberly said, as well as op tions involving traditional healers. A similar survey was conducted in 1990, and with that data the results will be able to show trends of the past 15 years. Health officials have subcontracted Oregon State University to assist with the data analysis and report writing. Oberly said she will be directly involved with helping to write some of the nar rative. The Confederated Tribes o f Warm Springs are one of four tribes to complete the survey after receiving a grant from the Native American Re search Center for Health. The survey came about after a two- year process that involved having the survey approved by the Indian Health Board. Five surveyors have worked to complete the desired number o f re sponses. Results will be made available to tribal members toward the end of December. 'wmm/Mmmm/mmmmmm
