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| Delegation Reps Meet with Officials about Albuquerque Indian Health Center |
March 14, 2005 |
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WASHINGTON – Representatives from the offices of U.S. Senators Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman, and Representatives Heather Wilson and Tom Udall late Friday met with officials from the Department of Health and Human Services and Indian Health Services about the future of the Albuquerque Indian Health Center (AIHC).
At the meeting, James Toya, the Indian Health Service’s Albuquerque area director, briefed delegation representatives on plans to help ease the transition for patients who currently use the center. Some of these patients will be treated at UNM Hospital or at pueblo facilities.
“The Center is reducing its services and hours of operation because tribes in the Albuquerque area are choosing to operate their own health programs. Under federal law, the Indian Health Service is required to transfer money to Tribes who provide health services directly to their members. This leaves urban Indians without access to care in Albuquerque. I am pleased that all the parties involved are now having a dialogue about solving this problem over the long term,” Domenici said.
“Because of a lack of federal funding, the Albuquerque Indian Health Center will soon scale back the services it offers and become nothing more than a doctor’s office, leaving thousands of urban Indians with few alternatives for health care. We need to find a way to bolster the center, and this meeting was good start,” Bingaman said.
“People aren’t going back to Shiprock to see the doctor. We need to find a way for urban Indians to get primary care in Albuquerque. I look forward to working with my colleagues, the community and the IHS to address this problem, Wilson said.
"Native Americans from across New Mexico utilized the Albuquerque facility. AIHS has taken important steps to address the displaced patients as a result of the closure, but it is of critical importance that we come up with a long-term solution to this problem," Udall said. "It`s vital that the federal government live up to its commitment to all Native Americans, regardless of where they live," Udall said.
Although funds are distributed based on tribal membership, the 2000 census reports that American Indians living in urban areas constitute 66 percent of the total American Indian population. |
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