Latest Stories
Supreme Court allows suit against 'light' tobacco (12/16)
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed smokers in Maine to sue the manufacturers of "light" cigarettes for fraud. In a 5-4 vote, the justices held that the suit was not pre-empted by federal law. The opinion was written...
Medill: Indian Health Care Improvement Act expires (12/12)
"If Native American advocate Kennith Scott could time travel back to 1978, he would. It was an era when he was just starting to fight for better Native American health care and the efforts won services for thousands of people...
Inuit in Canada at highest risk for lung cancer (12/09)
Lung cancer rates among Inuit in the North of Canada are the highest in the world, according to a study in the International Journal of Circumpolar Health. Rates among Inuit men were 1.5 times higher than the Inuit living in...
Conference looks at diabetes among Indian youth (12/08)
Health experts were in San Diego, California, last week to discuss diabetes among Indian youth. American Indian and Alaska Native youth have the highest rate of diabetes in the nation. In San Diego County, nearly a third of Indians ages...
Kevin Abourezk: Optimism on Indian health bill (12/05)
"Rachel Joseph isn't ready to give up. For nearly a decade, the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone has been fighting for reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. "We've been at it for nine years," said Joseph, co-chair of the National...
Obama's support sought for Indian health bill (12/01)
Will president-elect Barack Obama will use his power to help pass the Indian Health Care Improvement Act? President Bush opposed reauthorization of the bill for several years. After members of Congress criticized his administration, Senate Republicans blocked its passage. With...
Conjoined Cheyenne River Sioux twins doing well (11/26)
Doctors in Oklahoma plan to separate a set of 1-month-old girls who are believed to be the first American Indian conjoined twins. Preslee Faith and Kylee Hope Wells were born October 25 in Oklahoma City. Their mother, Stevie Stewart,...
Tribes look forward to Daschle's role in health care (11/21)
Tribes are excited by the expected selection of former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. When he was in the Senate, Daschle worked to increase funding for the Indian Health Service....
Menominee Nation most unhealthy in Wisconsin (11/20)
The county that is home to the Menominee Nation was once again rated the most least healthiest place in Wisconsin.. Chairwoman Lisa Waukau wasn't surprised by the results of the annual University of Wisconsin-Madison study. She said most people on...
Tom Daschle tapped for Health and Human Services (11/19)
Former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota has been tapped as Secretary of Health and Human Services for president-elect Barack Obama. Daschle is known as an advocate for Indian issues. He would oversee the Indian Health Service in...
White Earth Band set for youth treatment center (11/19)
The White Earth Band of Ojibwe will open a youth residential treatment center in Bemidji, Minnesota, on January 1, 2009. The White Earth Oshki Manidoo Center, or “New Spirit,” provides services to Native youth ages 10-18. The tribe paid $6.5...
Work continues on $135M Chickasaw hospital (11/14)
The Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma is moving closer to the opening of a $135 million hospital. The 370,000 square-foot hospital will replace the Carl Albert Indian Health Facility. It will be about three times the size of the old building....
Indian recovery center to expand with big grant (11/14)
An residential recovery facility on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota will be able to expand services thanks to a $735,992 grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The Parshall Resource Center plans to add...
North Dakota tribe readies long-awaited hospital (11/11)
The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation of North Dakota hopes to break ground next year on a long-awaited hospital. The tribe lost the hospital to the creation of the Garrison Dam in the 1950s. The federal government never replaced the...
Army to study suicide in hopes of preventing it (10/30)
The U.S. Army and the National Institute of Mental Health will spend $50 million over five years to study suicide among soldiers. Suicide among soldiers has been rising every year since the start of the war in Iraq in 2003....
Soboba Band receives lead reduction grant (10/29)
The Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians will use a $50,000 federal grant to develop lead prevention programs for Indian children in southern California. The grant from the Environmental Protection Agency will pay for "Tribal Families in Need Program" to educate...
Turtle Mountain Band passes ban on abortion (10/27)
A member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians is questioning a tribal council resolution that seeks to ban abortions on the North Dakota reservation. Andy Laverdure said the resolution was passed without public notice and discussion. “It goes...
Opinion: Money not the only problem at IHS (10/22)
"I applaud Sen. Max Baucus' recent directive to Inspector General Daniel Levinson to complete an investigation of the Indian Health Service. Many of us in Montana have known about the serious problems with the IHS long before recent headlines highlighting...
Paiute Tribe invites law enforcement to play (10/22)
The Paiute Tribe of Utah hopes a friendly game of basketball will improve relations with local law enforcement and improve its members' health. The tribe is hosting an open gym three nights a week in Cedar City. "By having...
IHS website provides 'Quality of Care' reports (10/20)
A new website allows American Indian and Alaska Natives patients to learn more about the quality of care they receive at Indian Health Service facilities. IHS set up Quality of Care as part of Executive Order 13410. The site provides...
Kevin Abourezk: Sen. Obama's Indian health plan (10/17)
"Two weeks after Congress failed to pass important Indian health legislation, tribal and political leaders touted Sen. Barack Obama's plans to improve Indian health care Tuesday. "It's really a life or death conversation we need to be having," said Rosebud...
PBS: Inadequate funding kills Indian patients (10/16)
"BETTY ANN BOWSER: A hundred miles west of Hagerman is another area with an acute doctor shortage, the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation. The only medical facility on the 460,000-acre reservation is this 13-bed hospital run by the federal government's...
Navajo employee to receive top USDA honor (10/15)
An employee of the Navajo Nation is being recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Thomas Yellowhair is a senior budget analyst for the Navajo Food Distribution Program. He is being honored for working with government officials to streamline and...
Ojibwe woman invited to 'Oprah' show taping (10/15)
An Ojibwe woman and her chiropractor were invited to a taping of the Oprah Winfrey Show about "Women Who Changed the World." Becky Roy, 35, is from the Wikwemikong Reserve in Ontario. She was recently diagnosed with diabetes. "In my...
Cherokee council fails to override health veto (10/15)
The Cherokee Nation council failed to override a veto of a measure to expand the Oklahoma tribe's health care system.. In September, the council authorized three new medical clinics and a new dental clinic. Chief Chad Smith vetoed the measure,...
Sen. Baucus names health advisory council (10/14)
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana), the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, named tribal and Indian representatives to his health care advisory council. Members include Pete Conway (Blackfeet), the Billings area director for the Indian Health Service; Kevin Howlett, the health...
Congress fails to pass critical Indian health care bill (10/13)
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill went home for the November election last week without taking action on one of the biggest priorities for Indian Country. The Indian Health Care Improvement Act has been stalled in Congress for more than seven years....
Navajo program promotes 'healthy marriage' (10/07)
The Navajo Healthy Marriages Opportunities Project in Kirtland, New Mexico, seeks to promote healthy relationships among American Indians. The project is funded by a five-year $1 million federal grant. Since it started two years ago, organizers have served 47...
Fort Mojave Tribe battles high rate of diabetes (10/07)
The Fort Mojave Tribe of Arizona hopes new eye screening equipment will help in the fight against diabetes. The Fort Mojave Indian Health Center recently installed an imaging system to screen tribal members for diabetes-related vision problems. Previously, patients had...
Commentary: Gov. Palin's family eligible for IHS (10/07)
"When Gov. Sarah Palin said during the vice presidential debate Thursday that her family has gone through periods where they’ve been uninsured and she understands what it’s like for Americans “to sit around the kitchen table and try to figure...
Indian boot camp ends with swim from Alcatraz (10/06)
Members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota once again took part in a unique health program in San Francisco, California. Nancy Iverson, a doctor who grew up in South Dakota, started Pathstar five years ago. She wants...
Yaqui man a long-term survivor of kidney disease (10/03)
Alfredo Lucero, a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, was diagnosed with kidney failure in 1993. He was only 27. The diagnosis wasn't good news. Most people die within five years of going on dialysis treatment for...
Eastern Cherokees donate to kidney foundation (10/03)
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians donated $150,000 to the National Kidney Foundation of North Carolina, the largest gift in the organization's history. The donation will support the Kidneyville Cruiser, a mobile education unit. The cruiser will appear at the...
Cherokee Nation takes over hospital from IHS (10/02)
The Cherokee Nation officially took control of the W.W. Hastings Indian Hospital on Wednesday. The tribe signed a self-governance compact to take over the Indian Health Service hospital. The process took about nine months of work. “This is a...
United Keetoowah Band sues to block IHS turnover (10/01)
The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees Indians filed suit in federal court on Tuesday to prevent the Indian Health Service from handing control of the W.W. Hastings Indian Hospital to the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokees plan to start running...
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