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Two Western South Dakota tribes are giving a Rapid City-based women’s health clinic a month to turn around its program.
The Native American-centered, pre-natal care clinic in question has seen zero patients since last April.
South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Lee Strubinger has more.
Rosebud and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal officials are giving the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Native Women’s Health Clinic until May 4 to implement a corrective action plan, staff the clinic, and start seeing patients again.
All three tribes contract with the federal government to provide pre-natal and women’s healthcare for tribal members in Rapid City. The Oglala Sioux Tribe administers the program.
Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out says the tribe has addressed the Native Women’s Health Clinic.
“We’ve already addressed that. We already made agreements that, we hired—that situation’s been handled. It’ll be monitored from here on out. We have—we definitely did address it. It’ll be handled by the Oglala Sioux Tribe, for now.”
Star Comes Out says the intention is for the tribe to still run the clinic going forward.
A report last year found the number of healthcare visits quickly decreased over three years, down to zero since last April. Patients are being referred elsewhere—including to an Oyate Health Center midwife located a floor below the clinic.
During a March tribal council meeting, Rosebud Sioux Tribal president Scott Hermann said the tribe is considering moving its share of funding to cover women’s health to Oyate Health Center.
Hermann says the tribe needs to do what is in the best interest of tribal members living in Rapid City.
“Because it can cause some problems. We can be liable for anything that could happen to them because we’re not providing that service for them,” Hermann said. “Something happens as far as their pregnancy, or a miscarriage or something like that, that comes into play. Those kind of issues will come up if we don’t address it.”
Some estimate the lack of services affects anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 of enrolled Native women living near the Black Hills.
On-site counseling will be offered at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan. this week.
This follows Friday’s announcement by police that Haskell student and actor Cole Brings Plenty was found deceased.
The Haskell community and the greater Kansas City Native community were hoping for his safe return after he went missing on March 31.
Community events have been taking place on campus since last week to hold space and offer support.
A candlelight vigil was held over the weekend.
Morningstar Counseling, which will be on campus Monday and Tuesday, says its services for students, staff, and faculty are to help address grief and loss.
Police say Brings Plenty was found in a wooded area in Johnson County late Friday morning.
Police say the investigation is ongoing and are not providing further details.
The Lawrence Kansas Police Department was seeking his arrest in connection to an alleged domestic violence incident.
The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota released a statement Friday saying Brings Plenty is a citizen of the tribe, and that the tribe is offering its deepest sympathy and support to his family and friends.
The statement goes on to say the tribe is demanding a full and thorough investigation into Brings Plenty’s disappearance and death, and that the tribe’s attorney general will be in contact with Kansas authorities.
His family released a statement Friday thanking people for their support and asked for privacy as they grieve.
Brings Plenty’s disappearance and subsequent death not only impacted the greater Kansas City Native community, but people across Indian Country have been offering their support.
An online campaign asks his supporters to wear braids on Monday in his honor, but also to raise awareness of the missing and murdered Indigenous people’s movement.
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