Indian Health Care: A National Tragedy

Mycole James Ferguson and Leah Page will never grow up to find their potential in life. Both infants were stillborn one week apart on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

Sadly, this is not an uncommon occurrence on this vast Indian reservation. It is to the shame of America that its indigenous populations are at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to adequate prenatal health care.

The families of Mycole and Leah are still suffering from the loss of their children. And yet week after week, month after month and year after year, the names of stillborn Native American infants will be listed on the obituary pages of local newspapers.

Sharon Begley wrote in Newsweek Magazine that, "In international comparisons of health care, the infant mortality rate is a crucial indicator of a nation's standing, and the United States' position at No. 28, with seven per 1,000 live births -- worse than Portugal, Greece, the Czech Republic, Northern Ireland and 23 other nations not exactly known for cutting-edge medical science -- is a tragedy and an embarrassment."

Most Americans believe that the United States has the best medical care in the world, but that is clearly not the case. One has to wonder that if America rates number 28 in the world in infant mortality rates, how do the poor and uninsured rate or the Native Americans on the Indian reservations rate? There is a gap so wide that it might as well separate the poor and the Native Americans from the rest of America by an ocean's width.

In a letter last week to the Senate and House Budget Committee, Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) wrote, "The Contract Health Services Program of the Indian Health Service has an unmet need of over $1 billion dollars. This program allows for medical care and urgent health care services to be purchased when the Indian Health Service or tribal health facilities are not able to provide it. This is the program that has given rise in Indian country to the saying, "Don't get sick after June," because it is common for the Indian Health Service to run out of funding for Contract Health Services after June."

Sen. Johnson said, "I have worked with my colleagues to correct President Bush's budget proposal for the Indian Health Service which grossly neglects the needs of Indian country." Sen. Johnson is a member of the Indian Affairs Committee.

Among the very poor Indian tribes in America there is a crisis in health care and let me be very clear about that. Diabetes, Type 2, is epidemic. The infant mortality rate is staggering. The average life expectancy is lower on Indian reservations than in any other area of America. On many reservations from the Navajo Nation to the Pine Ridge Reservation, deaths by cancer are starting to reach epidemic proportions. Death by heart disease has never been higher and it is still climbing.

And we were considered wards of the United States government? I think we were better off when we were considered the enemies because we at least had the opportunity of taking care of our own health problems. The benevolent eye of big brother looking over our shoulders has been more of a curse than a blessing.

The hardworking doctors and nurses of the Indian Health Service are not to blame. They can do only so much with the money they are allocated each year. And it seems that every year senators like Tim Johnson and Congress women like Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD) have to fight tooth and nail to squeeze out every single dollar. And oftentimes it is a losing battle for them, but the real losers are the Indian people. Earmarks? Why not?

Indian nations gave up millions of acres of land in exchange for the right to an education and adequate health care. These two provisions are a part of nearly every treaty signed between the United States of America and the Indian nations. It is not welfare the US is providing, but an obligation in fulfillment of treaty rights.

Dr. Leroy Clark is one of the doctors at the Sioux San Indian Hospital in Rapid City, SD. He is Native American and he talked about some of the things the hospital and staff is trying to do for their patients with little money, but with a lot of enthusiasm. And there is no finer bunch of people than you will find staffing any hospital in any city. Most of the staff at the Sioux San is Native American and they are kind, gentle and genuinely concerned for their patients and that is a big plus when one is in poor health.

If America can spend $1 billion dollars a day fighting a war in Iraq, surely it can find the compassion to spend an equal amount so that babies like Mycole and Leah will have a chance to be born into this world. Prenatal care on the Indian reservations should not be so strapped for money that babies are dying because of it.

Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, was born, raised and educated on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in the Class of 1991. He can be reached at [e-mail]

Comments

[redbow40]

Tim, I all I can say is, you make us all proud! What an oustanding follow-up. This country should be ashamed of itself. We have the audacity to tell others how to live. It tells the world who we really are. It could easily give the impression that the U.S. is continuing it's policies of "genocide" against us. I too will be contacting my Congressmen and Senators today, again.

[Podcast]

Colmore asks about the rich tribes helping the poor. There are some tribes so wealthy they are making per capita payments to their tribal members in amounts as high as $40,000 per month. Most of these tribes would help the very poor tribes if there was a mechanism available to assist in the process. If there is someone out there that would help me form a non-profit organization that could secure funds from the rich tribes for health, education, welfare and to help establish privately owned businesses on the lands of the poor tribes I would like to hear from them. Perhaps if there was a legal and legitimate foundation that dealt strictly with assisting the poor Indian tribes a great deal could be done to eliminate the middleman, the US of A. Tim Giago

[ljsfolly]

We have been a biased nation againest the nations than were here long before us. The history, the true history of what has been done and continued to be done amazes me. It is as if they are given a plot of hard land to hoe and then we walk away thinking they have been given something of value. I believe that everyone should gamble freely only at the indian casinos and give back to them what they deserve to have. Those without casinos I have no answer but that we need to fix this hard life for them all. I see local indians spending 10-50 grand a month in their share but the tribes who have nothing to give them what we consider human rights is shameful too. The third world nations we give to across the oceans are as bad as the third world nations we have within our own boundaries. I feel pain for the loss of their children and it should not be happening with the US.

[Colmore]

The candidates are fond of saying "We have the best health care in the world" That is only true if you can afford insurance, and to live reasonably close to a clinic or hospital. They DO have the best healthcare, paid for by the taxpayers. The cost of having a healthcare team follow Cheney everywhere he goes would pay for a large number of people to have medical care. On another note, I have often wondered why the tribes who are raking in the money from casinos do not pitch in to help their poorer tribes? That would let the government off the hook, so the politicians would LOVE that.

[sparkandy]

Years ago when I was in school in Tahlequah, OK, capitol of the Cherokee Nation, the Indian Hospital was a horror. I found out last year it's not much better now. My ex, who's on the rolls, went there when he became very ill. The doctors and staff were very caring, but it seems their resources weren't enough for all they needed to do for people. I believe if my ex had not gone to the Indian hospital, he might still be alive. By the time we got him out of there and to Tulsa, it was too late. There's not enough money for the needs of that particular Indian hospital, anyway.

[Herrington]

Just finishing the job they started in 1492.

Herrington - Choctaw

[pacats]

It is truly unfortunate that in this great nation, such a condition exist in America. This election season has taught many of us to remember to focus on the lapel pin, various associations of the candidates, taxes,the economy, who may or may not be bitter, super delegates, and the popular vote. But no words about the plight of the Native American.
This article written by Giago will break your heart. This condition should not be acceptable in our country. This situation would not make Americans feel proud of themseves, and it is not our mindset to think this tragedy is okay.
Every person who reads this article should contact their state politician and the appropriate person in the White House. They should encourage their support to the politicians named in this article to secure the necessary funds required to change this situation around. They are our Native Americans, and they desire better from Washington. You can make a difference. "Yes We Can"

[digoweli]

Well said and absolutely correct. This is not welfare as it is often framed by conservatives and Republicans but is payment of a debt by the U.S. government representing all of the people of America. I have called my Congressmen and Senators every time I have seen it framed that way. This is a national disgrace. People who hate government are incapable of governing well. They are paranoid about their responsibilities and miserly to a fault.

But Tim, what would you expect from people who refuse to pay to educate their own national young people adequately and would rather immigrate highly skilled workers from elsewhere because it is cheaper. They have no idea of the power of the gift and thus are spiritually impoverished. Thank you for this article. I'm very upset about two Elder friends who have suffered greatly as a result of what you point out. Digoweli