'Level of suffering is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before'
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Initially the death and suffering driven by the COVID-19 virus seemed far away from the Plains of South Dakota.
Like the news of wars and natural disasters from distant foreign places, it seemed like a big city problem where people live chock-a-block in high rises and ride densely packed mass transit.
“It was hard to fathom what people went through back in the spring,” says Angel Wilson, nurse practitioner at the Rosebud Hospital on the Rosebud Reservation. “I could read about it and say how horrifying it was for them, but it was still far away.”
Now, however, the virus has arrived on South Dakota’s eight reservations, in a state that in recent weeks routinely tops the list of COVID-19 hotspots. And it has hit hard, overwhelming hospitals and requiring some patients to be flown out of state, often with limited means for returning home.
Many Native patients also suffer underlying health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.
“When people here get sick, they get really sick,” says Wilson, a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. “The level of suffering is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.”
Depression, fear
Using the formal language of a medical professional, Wilson describes the challenges of caring for “high acuity” patients, or those with greater needs.
“We often have to send them to other facilities with more resources,” she says. Patient acuity is a parameter used in allocating nursing staff.
Wilson pauses her clinical assessment.
Born and raised on the reservation, Wilson has worked at the Rosebud hospital for the bulk of her career. She knows most of its patients.
“If I don’t know them personally, I know their parents or family; emotionally, it’s been really hard,” she said.
Wilson recently attended the funeral of her adoptive mother, who died from COVID-19.
“She was 81, a powerful person who had a big impact on people, “always happy and praying for everybody,” she said.
“It feels like we are losing a lot of the older generation; they’re going so quickly, and a lot of our culture and language is going with them,” Wilson said.
“People are just so scared, you know? I think there’s a lot of depression right now.”
In South Dakota, Natives make up nearly 25 percent of statewide COVID-19 related hospitalizations despite being only about 9 percent of the population.
Realizing their citizens are at greater risk and have fewer health care resources, many tribal leaders in South Dakota have taken aggressive action to prevent spread of the virus, such as mandating masks, closing schools and government buildings and periodically enacting curfews, shutdowns and checkpoints on reservations roads.
Constant state of crisis
Many Indian Health Service facilities effectively function in a constant state of crisis during normal circumstances. Chronically underfunded and overwhelmed, the agency falls far behind other federal health programs; Medicare is funded at about three times more per patient than the Indian Health Service.
Public health investigators on the Pine Ridge Reservation estimate that about two out of 10 people who test positive end up being hospitalized.
Most Indian Health Service facilities in South Dakota are unable to care for seriously ill COVID-19 patients, who must be transferred often by air, sometimes hundreds of miles to hospitals in other states.
“There don’t seem to be any beds in South Dakota at this point,” said Wilson.
“They’ve (Indian Health Service) actually done a good job of keeping patients here when they can, but we have limited resources as far as nursing staff,” she said. “A couple of weeks ago, we were begging for places to take patients.”
“Very ill patients are airlifted to facilities out of state,” Young said.
Patients who recover are then discharged from faraway hospitals.
“That’s when the trouble starts for us.”
“Most of our patients are poverty stricken; they don’t have any family or resources to help bring them back home, so EMS picks them up,” Young said.
The roundtrip drive to Billings, Montana, for instance, takes two days; drivers must stay overnight and then bring patients back to the reservation. Drivers must wear complete protective gear for the return trip, according to Young.
“We have no choice; what are we going to do, force them to walk home?”
“We’re overwhelmed; normally we’re staffed at only about 60 percent of what we should be; our workload during the pandemic has doubled and tripled,” Young said.
Since emergency medical operations is an existing program, it doesn’t qualify for CARES funding, though the Indian Health Service has helped with supplies and staff.
The job has taken a toll on workers.
“We’ve had about 12 staff either get the virus or have to quarantine because of exposure,” Young said.
“I just hope we can get a break when this is over.”
Unlike her parents who grew up during the Depression, Wilson notes that she has never experienced the level of pain and loss caused by the virus.
“We weren’t rich growing up, but I’ve never been through anything like this; I’m scared for my family.”
Tags
Who is online
426 visitors
NO TRUMP - NO BIDEN - NO POLITICS
What is sad to most of the Native Americans is that of the 372 "Treaties" signed between the U. S. government and the Native American Tribes/Nations/Pueblos, all of those treaties have been broken by the U. S. governmental institutions - including Congress.
The vast majority of the treaties include the clauses/phrases that, in return for the TAKING of millions of acres of Native American lands, the U. S. government will furnish the Tribes/Nations/Pueblos with "appropriate medical care and facilities". Unfortunately, only the Tribes/Nations/Pueblos have furnished the majority of that "appropriate medical care and facilities" because the Federal budgets ALWAYS reduce/hamper funding to the Tribes/Nations/Pueblos.
" This study reveals that federal funding directed to Native Americans through programs at these agencies has not been sufficient to address the basic and very urgent needs of indigenous peoples . Among the myriad unmet needs are: health care, education, public safety, housing, and rural development. The Commission finds that significant disparities in federal funding exist between Native Americans and other groups in our nation, as well as the general population. Among immediate requirements for increased funding are: infrastructure development, without which tribal governments cannot properly deliver services; tribal courts, which preserve order in tribal communities, provide for restitution of wrongs, and lend strength and validity to other tribal institutions; and tribal priority allocations, which permit tribes to pursue their own priorities and allow tribal governments to respond to the needs of their citizens. "
"The federal government, through laws, treaties, and policies established over hundreds of years, is obligated to ensure that funding is adequate to meet these needs. Moreover, the government must work diligently to elevate the standard of living among Native Americans to that of other Americans by ensuring that federal agencies create attainable resource-driven goals toward this end."
And, then we see/hear/live stories as the one above. 576 Federally Recognized Tribes/Nations/Pueblos have had 372 Federally authorized "Treaties" busted/thrown to the wind because Native Americans are "something else/others". The legal contracts signed and approved are totally ignored allowing peoples to die - for what reason?????
Thanks for getting the word out.
It is a national disgrace.
It's going to be difficult not to have politics in this article. It is politics that have, over the years, set the stage for the disaster. The underfunded IHS has been a chronic problem for decades. To add to the current disaster enveloping NA's is the decision of various state governors to ignore the pandemic in favor of their so-called ''rights''. No mask mandate is devastating states, but, no worries, let's have a motorcycle rally.
Yeah, I know that "No Politics" wording is a little difficult to skirt since the U. S. government is nothing but politics/party. BUT, BOTH parties suck at living up to their legal responsibilities outlined and detailed in the 372 treaties/contracts with Native Americans, so folks need to remember that and not try to attach the issues to one party.
The Navajo Nation is starting to have an upsweep in cases and deaths - so are some of the Pueblos - and definitely the Plains/NW Tribes/Nations.
The CARE funding is/was a poor method of trying to assist the Tribes/Nations. Of $2 Trillion in the CARE plan, the Tribes/Nations/Pueblos were to have received $8 Billion - .004%???? Get the flock outta here. Our people may only consist of 2% of the U.S. population so it would be logical that we "should have" received 2% of the funding - $40 Billion. After all, we are FIVE TIMES more likely to come down with the COVID virus and deaths than the rest of the U.S. population, AND, that would have allowed the Feds to live up to, partially, their "Treaty" obligations, which sez they are "obligated to ensure that funding is adequate to meet these needs.:"
At first, the Tribes were left out of the Cares act and it took pressure from some Congress members to get to be part of it. The tribes asked for $20 billion and received $8 billion. That was far short of what they need but it got worse. The government screwed it up so bad that a large part was awarded to for-profit native corporations which it never should been and it ended up in court with the tribes not receiving all the monies for months, which is now causing problems.
Another problem was that some tribes received next to nothing while others received a goodly amount. This was of course another government screw-up.
The Navajo nation which is being devasted by the virus has asked the feds and FEMA for help. We'll see what happens
Yes, we did get stimulus checks. Many of the people on SS are living below the poverty line, it's good they did get stimulus checks.