Meetings will chart Elbowoods Clinic’s future
Meetings will chart Elbowoods Clinic’s future
By Jerry W. Kram
The future of healthcare on the Fort Berthold Reservation will be explored at a series of meetings hosted by the Three Affiliated Tribes Health Administration. The results of the meetings could mean that the Elbowoods Memorial Health Center would be open to all residents of the reservation and not just tribal members.
The meetings will be over the next two weeks in each of the regions of the reservation. The meetings are being organized as part of the ongoing health care planning effort with the Three Affiliated Tribes and the Wilson Health Planning Cooperative. The Common Enterprise Development Corporation of Mandan has a contract to help plan the meetings.
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded the Three Affiliated Tribes with a Community Health Center Planning Grant to determine if a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) would be appropriate for all residents of the Fort Berthold Reservation.
“We are having the meetings just to get the information out there,” said Gen Smith with the Common Enterprise Development Corporation. “Ultimately the tribal council will have to decide whether they want to convert the Elbowoods Health Center to a community health center.”
