Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Photo: Dental services at the Coquille Tribe’s wellness clinic in Coos Bay, Oreg. (Courtesy Coquille Tribe)

Four states now allow government-run insurance programs to cover Native American healing practices.

In October, the Biden Administration expanded both Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for practices including sweat lodges and drumming in Oregon, California, New Mexico, and Arizona.

Jen Procter Andrews is Vice Chair for the Coquille Tribe based in Coastal Oregon, and a member of the Portland Area Indian Health Board.

She says this is a fantastic development which will address issues specific to Native communities.

“Native women die from pregnancy-related causes at twice the rate of white women and Native infants die in their first year of life at a nearly twice the rate of white infants. And our populations experience higher levels of other health issues like chronic liver disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, unintentional injuries, and the list could go on, but the expected result is better quality health and health outcomes in tribal communities really by improving access to culturally appropriate health care.”

The expansion for Medicaid and CHIP is on a pilot basis.

It’s set to expire at the end of September 2027, unless extended.

Andrews is hopeful that it will continue.

“Our indigeneity is unique because it encompasses the past and present treatment of Indigenous peoples and includes the connection between health outcomes and the environment in which we live. Indigenous peoples’ environment, the deep-rooted cultural beliefs, and other components that are not usually found in our current, frankly, colonial approaches to healthcare.”

The Coquille Tribe operates several health clinics, including one in Eugene, Oreg., well beyond its traditional territory.

After three years and dozens of hearings, a former Juneau, Alaska chiropractor who targeted primarily Native women will go on trial.

Jeffrey Fultz is charged with sexually assaulting more than a dozen patients who received medical care at a tribal health organization that serves Southeast Alaska.

At a recent hearing, Assistant District Attorney Jessalyn Gillum said the repeated delays in the case have taken a big toll on his alleged victims.

“The idea of just sort of delaying for delay’s sake does sometimes have an adverse effect on witnesses’ willingness to participate. They get tired, they get fed up.”

Police initially arrested Fultz in 2021 on three charges of sexual assault.

More women have since come forward; 14 in all.

Some of the alleged crimes date back more than a decade.

The charges against Fultz are based on accusations that he assaulted patients who sought chiropractic care, while he worked for Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium.

Since Fultz posted bail three years ago, he has been living in Colorado.

His attorney James Christie took on the case last January.

Christie argued at each hearing that his team hasn’t had enough time to review the case.

“I understand that everyone on the line has rights here and my client’s constitutional right to a fair trial trumps all of them.”

Despite those objections, the judge has blocked out five weeks for a trial, starting in February.

Christie had also requested that the witnesses calling in to court to testify be publicly identified.

Another motion he filed asked for broader access to their medical records.

The judge denied both requests.

And on this day in 1812, Sacajawea is said to have died.

A Shoshone woman captured by the Hidatsa as a child, Sacajawea is often portrayed as being an interpreter and occasional guide for the Lewis and Clark expedition which began in 1804.

She accompanied the explorers, while also carrying her infant son Jean Baptiste, who was born a year into the so-called Corps of Discovery.

She’s commemorated on a dollar coin issued by the U.S. Mint and as the namesake for many schools.

 

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.