WY US Representative Hageman Working On Health Services For Native Americans

Wyoming’s lone representative in the U.S. House says she’s trying to help improve health services for Native Americans.

Harriet Hageman who is the chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs, recently introduced House Resolution 630, which would require all agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services to establish an Urban Indian Organization confer policy.

Currently, only the Indian health Service is statutorily required to confer with Urban Indian Organizations.

Hageman says some recent testimony from some Native Americans helped her understand how serious the situation is in some areas.

“We’re really failing our tribal community in terms of our Indian Health Services. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is the poorest county in the United States. We have failed that community, we have failed those tribal members and we have failed in providing the medical services that they are entitled to. We had 4 women come in a couple of months ago to testify about the challenges they have providing services to their community.”

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is southeast of Rapid City in South Dakota.

Click here to view House Resolution 630.