"The Indian Health Service has had the responsibility for healing our ailments. In many cases, they have failed miserably. People have died because of misdiagnoses and poor treatment. IHS is chronically underfunded and poorly staffed. I say this because I have been a part of the system all my life and have seen incident after incident. And we are dependent on the HIS system for our health care.

The system was put in place by the federal government as part of the payment for land taken many years ago. That, and our school systems, I might add.

So I was surprised at how much funding went into programs for our health. So why aren't our system and health services better? That's a question I hope will be brought before the Senate committee in the upcoming hearings in Washington, D.C.

We can complain and whine about the IHS and our words seem to fly away in the wind.

Yet we are responsible for our own health and that of our children. Years ago, when we were strong and independent, we talked with our children about things such as suicide, nurtured them in the Native way and were in control of our own health."

Get the Story:
DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Native people must address suicides (The Grand Forks Herald 5/10)

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