r
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
Page 10
IHS prepares for growth in Indian population
ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) - A
reorganization o f the senior
staff is among the changes since
Charlene Red T hunder took
over as area director o f the
Aberdeen Area Indian Health
Service.
• Red Thunder has created a
senior staff she believes will let
the Aberdeen Area IHS move
forward in a four-state cover
age area w here m ore than
118,000 Indians who are eligible
for services. By 2015, IHS of
ficials expect the Indian popula
tion to increase to 145,628.
The Aberdeen Area IHS is
responsible for seven hospitals
and 10 health centers in South
Dakota, N orth Dakota, Iowa
and Nebraska.
Red Thunder said she and
her staff have spent a lot of
time meeting with the area's 17
Indian tribes.
“We wanted to listen to their
concerns,” said Red Thunder, an
enrolled member of the Chey
enne River Sioux Tribe. “We
wanted to give them a chance
to advocate for their constitu
ents.”
The Aberdeen area office
employs more than 1,900 work
ers and has an annual operating
budget of more than $302 mil
lion.
“We wanted to offer trans
parency for the tribes,” said
Allen Davis, the executive of-
ficer who is now also serving as
deputy director of management
operations. “We wanted to pro
vide better access to what we're
doing. A way to open up the
books really. Internally, we'll re
organize to see if there's a more
efficient way of doing things.”
Ray Grandbois, an IHS as
sociate area director, said a lack
o f good communication be
tween the top management and
the tribes sometimes produced
misunderstandings.
Challenges for quality health
care for the tribes are abundant,
Grandbois said. Financially, the
IHS struggles to stretch dollars,
specialists are hard to come by
and recruitment of doctors and
health care providers is hard in
m ore rural places and the
money isn't usually as good as it
is in the private sector.
Still, Red Thunder said, the
Aberdeen Area IHS is trying to
bridge some of those gaps, start
ing with the financial issues.
Red Thunder said she hopes
to partner with other groups,
such as Veterans Health Admin
istration, to see what kind of
services can be combined or
even shared.
“We need to partner with as
many entities as possible to
stretch the, dollars,” she said.
“We don't want to be duplicat
ing services.”
January 1, 20 0 9
Fitness Challenge winners announced
The Community Center staff
would like to thank all 23 teams
that entered into this year’s N o
vember Fitness Challenge.
The Community Center this
week announced the winner of
Powwow seeks court candidates
The Lincoln’s Birth
day Powwow Comittee
is seeking girls from
age 7 to 15 years old
to run for the powwow
Juneau will be sworn in this
week. She is an enrolled mem
ber o f the Blackfeet Tribe and
a m em ber o f the M andan-
Hidatsa tribes of N orth D a
kota.
Juneau says it's important to
be true to who you are and
where you came from, but it's
also important to understand
other perspectives.
Juneau w ent to M ontana
State and then to H arvard,
where she earned a master's
court.
If you are in te r
ested, please contact
Jodi at 553-9230 or
Anna at 553-1245.
Bare Foot Sage Salon & Spa
Heather, Hodges has joined
the sta ff at Purple Sage Spa &
S a lo n .H e a th e r grad u a ted
Phagans beauty college and can
do hair and nails. She special
izes in color, haircuts and
acrylic nails, and m ore H er
hours are Monday-Friday 10
a m -S p m , S a tu rd a y IO am -
4pm . Call 475 -5 7 2 1 fo r ap
pointment.
M ontana elects Native American as schools superintendent
H ELEN A , M ont. (AP) -
Montana's first American Indian
state schools superintendent,
Denise Juneau, says she's an
American Indian first but didn't
want to be seen as a single-issue
candidate.
the Fitness Challenge.
The Natural Resources team
won first place by accumulating
the most overall minutes.
The Geo Visions team is the
team average winner.
degree in education.
She taught on the F ort
Berthold Indian Reservation in
N orth D akota and later re
ceived a law degree from the
University of Montana.
123 SW J St. in Madras
2 00 0 S W H w y2 6
Madras, OR 97741
—
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