Archive for September 2nd, 2010

2
Sep

Indian Country hopes were high for Obama-Bloomberg meeting. Then came disappointment.

   Posted by: admin    in Cultural insensitivity, President Barack Obama, Sovereignty, Tribal smoke shops

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, left, rides in a golf cart driven by President Barack Obama, right, while playing golf at Vineyard Golf Club, in Edgartown, Mass., on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Friday. (AP/Steven Senne)

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, left, rides in a golf cart driven by President Barack Obama, right, while playing golf at Vineyard Golf Club, in Edgartown, Mass., on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Friday. (AP/Steven Senne)

Many in Indian Country have been fuming over New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s crack last month about the use of a “cowboy hat and shotgun” to collect cigarette taxes from Native American stores.

Although an apology was sought, none has been forthcoming

So when Bloomberg joined President Barack Obama during his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard a few days ago, hopes were high for what Indian Country Today writer Rob Capriccioso terms “a teachable moment.”

Obama has, after all, been attentive to the concerns of Indian Country. People thought, Capriccioso writes, that Obama might discuss the issue with Bloomberg:

    The hopes ranged from small – recognition – to large – getting the president to secure an apology. No matter their size, they were quashed.

    Instead, Obama – who has sometimes made a point of publicly supporting Indian issues – engaged Bloomberg in a conversation about the economy, and played a round of golf. Adding insult to injury, some New York papers have cited anonymous sources saying that Obama was feeling out Bloomberg for a job in his administration.

Bloomberg’s remark came in the midst of an ongoing effort by New York state to collect a $4.35-a-pack tax on cigarettes sold by Native-owned stores to non-Natives.

The tax was to be imposed starting yesterday; however, a federal judge has ordered a two-week delay – plenty of time, still, for Bloomberg to apologize.

Gwen Florio

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2
Sep

Now that Indian Health Care Act has OK, group pushes for funds

   Posted by: admin    in Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Health, Indian Health Care Improvement Act, Indian Health Service

A visitor walks through the new health clinic on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. Such state-of-the-art facilities are in sort supply. (Linda Thompson/Missoulian)

A visitor walks through the new health clinic on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. Such state-of-the-art facilities are in sort supply. (Linda Thompson/Missoulian)

For months, the Health Rights Organizing Project had a mission – the coalition of 30 grass-roots community organizations around the country worked hard to convince Congress to pass the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

Among its pitch, writes Susan Olp of the Billings Gazette, was a publication by the group titled “An American Debt Unpaid: Stories of Native Health.”

The legislation became effective when in March, when President Barack Obama signed the the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which permanently reauthorizes the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

Just one thing:

    The act is no longer dependent on annual reauthorization. And the new law authorizes the Indian Health Service to continue its programs and add some new ones, such as mental and behavioral health services, long-term care, dialysis, health care for Indian veterans and urban Indian health programs.

    What the bill didn’t do was allocate the money to fully fund the present programs or any new ones.

So the coalition is back at work with a new booklet: “Native Health Underfunded & Promises Unfulfilled: The Importance of Investing in the Indian Health Service.”

“I have seen people walking around with severe pain, with orthopedic malformations that were never addressed, people addicted to painkillers because they can’t get procedures, people who need substance abuse treatment but can’t receive it, and even people taking their own lives because of a number of factors, including depression,” says Kevin Howlett, health director of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal health Department.

To read the publication, go to http://www.nnaapc.org/publications/20100814NativeHealthUnderfunded.pdf.

Gwen Florio

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2
Sep

Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes welcome new clinic

   Posted by: admin    in Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Flathead Indian Reservation, Health

The new 23,000-square-foot Tribal Health Clinic replaces the former 1,800-square-foot building. (Linda Thompson/Missoulian)

The new 23,000-square-foot Tribal Health Clinic replaces the former 1,800-square-foot building. (Linda Thompson/Missoulian)

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana held an open house yesterday to show off their new clinic.

The new one took a log longer to tour than the old one.

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Health Department Director Kevin Howlett. (LINDA THOMPSON/Missoulian)

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Health Department Director Kevin Howlett. (LINDA THOMPSON/Missoulian)

“You could fit the old building in the waiting room of this one,” Kevin Howlett, director of CSKT’s Health Department, tells the Missoulian’s Vince Devlin.

The new Tribal Health Clinic’s 23,000 square feet is spread among three stories. The old clinic was a mere 1,800 square feet.

Where once the tribes offered a pharmacy and some dental services, they now can provide dental services and full outpatient medical services, including X-ray machines and exam rooms, a physical therapy department, an optometrist and mobile MRI and mammography equipment.

“This facility is more than just a building,” Howlett tells Devlin. “It’s a statement to the enduring confidence we have as a tribe in working toward our own destiny. Health care is a critical part of that.”


Gwen Florio

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