Native American Issues

Today
Lydia Mantzekis, Katie Watson, Mia Mansir, Lydia
Hargreaves
History
Healthcare has been inaccessible to Native Americans because of poor structure
in the system, low budget, and geographical barriers.
Healthcare has always been a difficult topic in the Native American community.
Access to healthcare is hard because of long 17 mile gravel roads leading to town
which are difficult to drive on and even more inaccessible in the winter when the
weather gets harsh. It's also difficult because the doctors offices in town don't
allow you to make appointments in advance. You have to call at 7am when they
open to attempt to secure an appointment.
Important Information
What studies, data, or interviews shed light on the most important information
about this issue?
● In 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of
Minority Health (OMH) discovered that 42.1% of American Indian or Alaska
Native citizens were dependent on public health insurance
● 14.9% had no health coverage at all
What startling facts did you discover?
● Native American healthcare often struggles to find resources used to meet
patients needs
● Insufficient funding results in lack of clinical resources
Source: Native American Healthcare Disparities
Primary example of lack of accessibility:
“In January, Cody Pedersen, 29, was stabbed in the neck. It took the ambulance
over two hours to arrive in Cherry Creek, where he lives. It's in the Cheyenne
River Indian Reservation in South Dakota”.

Even in this urgent situation, Cody had to wait for help. This was a very deadly
situation that he was in and he was lucky to survive after waiting around bleeding
from his neck for hours. Healthcare should be more accessible to avoid long term
health effects or even death and to make the town people feel more safe in their
community.
People Affected
Which tribes, communities, or demographics did the sources reveal to be affected
by this issue?
Tribes in South Dakota were Affected by these issues
Who is most affected? Which groups, ages, etc.?
The people affected were people between their teens and adults. Native american
youth are most prone to alcohol and drug abuse.
What is the outlook for people who are affected by this?
The outlook is that the people that were affected didn’t have the right treatment
that they deserved and it was bad on their health.
Example of the state of the medical facilities:
“The IHS is chronically underfunded. It receives a set amount of money each year to take
care of 2.2 million native people — no matter how much care they may need. On the
reservation, IHS facilities often don't have services that people elsewhere expect, such as
emergency departments or MRI machines”.
The health facilities in reservations are underprepared and lack complex diagnostic tools. If
these tools are needed, they are hours away in different towns. Not only is it inconvenient
but its outright dangerous to not have medical devices easily accessible
What is being done
An average prisoner has more healthcare access and coverage than an urban native american.
Native American healthcare is overlooked and not a priority. There are many factors that play a
role in the accessibility but it's mostly a problem because there's no awareness to the issue and
not much is being done to resolve this issue.

We weren't even aware of these issues until this assignment. I've never heard of anyone
speaking on issues in the native american community. Now i know that there's a lot of corruption
and very little efforts to help the native communities

Congress has allocated a small amount of money to help fund the indian healthcare system but
its still drastically under funded “IHS per capita spending was $4,078, as compared with $8,109
for Medicaid, $10,692 for the VHA, $13,185 for Medicare, and $8,600 for federal prisoners”.
Final thoughts
Native American communities would benefit from awareness. People don't
understand or know what’s going on and that is one reason that more things aren't
being done to help them. The government is doing bare minimum and we need to
be advocating for them.
Works Cited
● South Dakota Indians Find Getting Health Care Can Be A Struggle

● Amanda Gibson, BSN. “Native American Healthcare Disparities: Challenges and Solutions.” Relias, 2 Jan. 2024,
www.relias.com/blog/native-american-healthcare-disparities#:~:text=Lack%20of%20funding%20and%20access,put%20toward
%20direct%20patient%20care.