Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
November 26, 2014
Vol. 39, No. 24
November – Anaku Ipach’aanxa Yaamash
Health care expansion helping budgets
Warm Springs Managed Care
and the Indian Health Services
clinic have seen significant cost sav-
ings over the last year.
This happened because many
tribal members have signed up for
health care coverage.
Having this coverage gives the
individual more choices in health
care services, and also provides
budget savings to Managed Care
and IHS, as there are added billing
options.
The saving at Managed Care
over the past year has been signifi-
cant, said Mike Marcotte, program
director.
It was about this time in 2013
that the tribes and IHS began a cam-
paign to encourage tribal members
to apply for additional health care
coverage, mainly Expanded Medic-
aid. This was part of the effort to
implement the Affordable Care Act.
A team at the clinic, and one at
the Warm Springs Library and
Health Resource Center, became
trained in assisting people in signing
up for health coverage. Both of
these teams are still available for
anyone wanting assistance in sign-
ing up for health coverage.
Earlier, Medicaid was available
to a person whose income was at
the poverty level. Expanded Med-
icaid made this coverage available
to a person up to 138-percent of
the poverty level. This expansion al-
lowed many more people to access
the coverage.
Deborah Jackson, business of-
fice manager at the Warm Springs
clinic, estimates that over the past
year more than 3,500 residents have
either signed up for health care cov-
erage, or been re-determined
for coverage.
Re-determined means the
person’s information—income,
household, etc.—has been up-
dated. The trained assistors
helped many of these people
through the process.
In the past, if a tribal mem-
ber were referred to a service
at a facility in Bend, for in-
stance, then often the Managed
Care program would cover
these costs.
See HEALTH CARE on 7
Eagle
Academy
Assembly
P.O. Box 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
50 cents
38th Holiday
Bowl tourney
The Warm Springs Indian Holi-
day Bowling Tournament will cel-
ebrate its Thirty-Eighth Anniversary
this Thursday through Saturday,
Nov. 27-29.
The Holiday Bowling Tourna-
ment Committee will host the event
at Lava Lanes Bowling Center in
Bend.
This year’s tournament is in
Memory of Jaclyn “Puff ” Langley.
The family requested the Women’s
C Division in the Masters event be
dedicated to Jaclyn.
The committee appreciates very
much the families’ coming forth to
recognize these individuals who
added so much to the sport of bowl-
ing. The Committee will also have
some unannounced specials as well
for 2014.
See HOLIDAY TOURNEY on 6
Car Lights
Parade, Tree
Lighting Dec. 4
D.McMechan/Spilyay
The Warm Springs Eagle
Academy celebrated
Native American Month
last Friday with an
assembly in the school
gymnasium.
The performers included
Foster Kalama (far left
above), and hoop dancer
Kaiwin Clements (left).
Brutis ‘Bigg B’ Baez photos
Ventures projects coming up in 2015
Next year will be an important
one for Warm Springs Ventures, the
economic development enterprise
of the Confederated Tribes.
Ventures will be implementing the
next stage of the unmanned aerial
vehicle program on the reservation.
Getting the UAV program off
the ground is just one of a number
of projects, said Don Sampson, in-
terim chief executive officer of
Ventures.
Other items on the Ventures
2015 agenda are the carbon seques-
tration project, and development of
a Tribal Employment Rights Office
(TERO) and agreement.
Carbon sequestration has the po-
tential for bringing in new revenue
to the tribes, while TERO has the
potential to create jobs for tribal
members.
Another project that the tribes
will be looking at in 2015 is adop-
tion of a uniform commercial code
(UCC). Companies wishing to do
business on the reservation, such as
the UAV companies, would find it
much easier to do business here if
a tribal UCC were in place.
Tribes that work successfully with
outside entities have these codes,
Sampson said, “because the busi-
nesses that come in want to know
there is a fair playing field for them
to work on.”
Ventures will be working on a
draft tribal UCC to present to Tribal
Council.
Sampson is serving as interim
chief executive officer of Warm
Springs Ventures, until the time
when a new permanent CEO comes
on board. Sampson is a member
of the Confederated Tribes of
Umatilla, of the Walla Walla tribe.
“ That is a huge op-
por tunity w e ar e
missing.”
Don Sampson on TERO
He went to Humboldt State and
the University of Idaho, and became
a fisheries scientist. He served as
vice-chair and then chairman of the
Umatilla Board of Trustees. He was
chief executive officer of the Co-
lumbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Com-
mission for five years, and then
served as chief executive officer of
the Umatilla Tribe from 2003-2010.
“Most of that work was in eco-
nomic development,” he said. He
helped with the development and
later expansion of the Wild Horse
Casino, and development of the
Coyote Business Park, travel
plaza, museum, Cayuse Technolo-
gies, among other projects.
“We saw unemployment go
from about 40 percent to less
than 15 percent in about 20
years,” he said. The number of
Umatilla businesses went from
two or three to 15.
After retiring from the direc-
torship of the Umatilla tribes,
Sampson took a position with the
Institute for Tribal Government
at Portland State University,
which he still holds.
TERO
One of the more promising
employment projects that Ven-
tures is pursuing is establishment
of a Tribal Employment Rights
Ordinance and agreement.
See VENTURES on 3
The Warm Springs Car Lights
Parade and Tree Lighting are sched-
uled for next Thursday evening,
Dec. 4. The parade theme this year
is, “Santa’s Workshop, Spirit of Giv-
ing.”
The line-up for the Car Lights
Parade is at 5 p.m. at the old Warm
Springs elementary school. Judging
is at 6 p.m., and the parade starts at
7. Tree lighting and caroling to fol-
low—bring the whole family!
The parade and tree lighting are
hosted by Warm Springs Recreation,
with Native Aspirations. You can
reach them at 541-553-3243.
Holiday happenings
The Thirty-Ninth Annual
Warm Springs Christmas Ba-
zaar is set for Saturday, Dec. 13,
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Com-
munity Center gym and social hall.
Find those perfect gifts for the
family, while enjoying the home-
made goods. The bazaar is spon-
sored by Recreation.
The Museum at Warm Springs
will host the Native American
Heritage Art Market, celebrating
Native American Heritage Month.
The market will be on Saturday,
Nov. 29 from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Vendors interested in setting up
can contact Tamera Moody at 553-
3331.
The Chemawa Indian School
Craft Show is coming up on Dec.
6, at the Chemawa school gym. Ven-
dors can contact Karen Serna at
503-399-5721.
Warm Springs Recreation will
presents Christmas Indian Night
Out on Monday, December 22 at
the Community Center.
Bring your favorite dish for a
5:30 potluck with the social dance
and drummers Jam starting at
6:30.