Delegation Goes to Bat for Elbowoods Hospital
Lawmakers Call for Adequate Staffing for Three Affiliated Tribes Health Center
Washington - Senators Kent Conrad and John Hoeven and Congressman Rick Berg today called on the director of the Indian Health Service (IHS) to ensure adequate funding is available to staff the new Elbowoods Memorial Health Center, located on the Fort Berthold reservation in New Town.
"The opening of the Elbowoods Memorial Hospital will represent the fulfillment of a long overdue promise from the federal government to the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation. We now need IHS to allocate the funding necessary to ensure the facility can be fully operational and staffed," the delegation said in a joint statement.
In a letter to Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, the director of the Indian Health Service, the congressional delegation requests funds be allocated to support the 88 positions at the Elbowoods Memorial Health Center requested in the President’s budget.
The new facility is currently under construction, with approximately 60 percent of the work complete. The 43,000 square foot state-of-the art facility is scheduled to open in August of this year, replacing the existing Minne-Tohe clinic.
Senators Conrad and Hoeven are members of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.
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