The Director of the Indian Health Service Would Get More Power Under A Bipartisan Proposal.Lawmakers say the proposed change “will bring greater attention within the administration to addressing the health care status and needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives. A bipartisan pair of lawmakers want to elevate the role of the federal official in charge of healthcare for American Indians and Alaskan Natives to better serve those communities. Representatives Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., and David Joyce, R-Ohio, recently introduced legislation that would raise the job of the Indian Health Service director to that of an assistant secretary for Indian Health within the Health and Human Services Department.
In full disclosure, this is someone I know personally. A University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Member has received her post-graduate training assignment, called a “residency”. Following graduation the first weekend in May, Meredith Keith, from Eagle Butte, will begin training in family medicine at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine in Sioux Falls. Her Lakota name is “Zuya Toka He Win – Woman First to Fight“, when she was a little girl Meredith had aspirations of becoming either a tribal cop or a waitress at the Diamond A restaurant. From her KIPI family and her biological family, we wish Dr. Meredith Keith a long and prosperous career giving back to the community.
Those are your headlines at this hour. I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.
