New hospital set to open in Eagle Butte

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – A state-of-the-art $109 million health center is set to open in Eagle Butte, S.D., next month, providing members of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe with a major upgrade from the circa-1959 hospital the tribe has long outgrown.

More than $84 million in federal stimulus funds helped speed construction of the Cheyenne River Health Center, a project on the north-central South Dakota reservation that has been in the works for more than five years. The new 138,500-square-foot center will house both tribal health services and a hospital run by the federal Indian Health Service, replacing an outdated facility that's less than one-third of the new center's size.

“This is a complete state-of-the-art facility,” said Kevin Keckler, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

The hospital will be missing one hoped-for amenity: a birthing center. Federal regulations require that a hospital have a surgical unit to offer that service.

But there's plenty to have officials excited: a 32-slice CT scan machine; an ultrasound machine for diagnostic mammograms; an improved patient-care system to boost disease screenings; a 10-bed inpatient hospital; a larger and more advanced emergency room; an improved radiology department; upgraded lab services, and a staff that will more than double in size.

The myriad upgrades will not only help physicians treat the sick, but they will improve preventative care for the nearly 12,000 patients served each year, said Dr. Rommel Brandt, the clinical director.

“We will see results in the future,” he said. “Our aim is health promotion and disease prevention.”

The center will also have a limited blood supply on hand, allowing trauma responders to save more lives in emergencies, said Kathey Wilson, the hospital's chief executive.

“I think both the (CT) scan and the availability of blood are going to make a really big difference,” Wilson said. “Trauma is one of the leading causes of death and injuries in Native communities.”

IHS officials are targeting a Nov. 7 opening of the center, but Wilson said that date is not finalized.

Expectant mothers on the reservation will still have to give birth in Pierre or Rapid City, however.

Last fall, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against IHS to obtain information about whether pregnant women on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation are being pressured to have labor induced against their wishes. The organization said there is no opportunity to give natural birth on the Cheyenne River reservation, and for nearly a decade women have had to travel at least 90 miles to St. Mary's Healthcare Center in Pierre to have their babies.

The lawsuit contends that many women are being told they must have their labor induced on a particular day without being given information about the risks and benefits of induction.

Wilson said she could not comment on a pending lawsuit.

But the new health center does offer some upgrades for expectant mothers.

Brandt said that two of the hospital's 10 inpatient rooms are equipped as labor and delivery rooms for emergency vaginal delivery. If a woman in active labor comes into the hospital, physicians can weigh the benefit and the risk of transporting the patient to another hospital, Brandt said.

“We don't want anyone to be delivering en route,” he said.

Brandt said full-term pregnancies in the area typically go to St. Mary's in Pierre and premature pregnancies of less than 38 weeks go to Rapid City Regional.

Keckler said women for years have had to travel to give birth and he acknowledged that it's an inconvenience. But he said the tribe is currently focused on getting the new hospital open and serving its members.

“Once we get it open, I'm sure we will explore other things for it,” Keckler said.

Nearly 200 federal positions will join the hospital's staff of 161, resulting in a 20 percent increase in the medical staff, Wilson said. But many of those positions won't be filled immediately, as recruitment and retention continue to be issues for the agency.

“I don't expect that we'll be totally staffed at the moment we open,” Wilson said. “We'll be constantly working on that,” Wilson said.

As part of treaties signed by the Sioux Nation in the late 1800s, the federal government agreed to provide medical care on Native American reservations. The government-run IHS, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, runs hospitals and clinics on most reservations.

Critics long have complained of insufficient financial support that has led to constant turnover among doctors and nurses, understaffed hospitals, sparse specialty care and long waits to see a doctor.

IHS Director Yvette Roubideaux, in a speech given at the Eagle Butte facility's Aug. 26 dedication, said that new hospitals and clinics help with the agency's quest to provide the best health care for Native people.

“I firmly believe each new facility moves us closer to our shared mission of raising the physical, mental, social, and spiritual health of American Indians and Alaska Natives to the highest level,” said Roubideaux, a Rosebud Sioux Tribe member born in Pierre.