Urban Indian clinic in Fresno loses IHS contract

Friday, January 26, 2007  

An urban Indian clinic in Fresno, California, is closing today after losing its contract with the Indian Health Service.

The Fresno Native American Health Center was informed last Friday that its $330,000 contract wasn't being renewed. The IHS said the clinic failed to see enough patients, failed to pay for laboratory work and failed to have a public health nurse on site.

Virginia Sutter, the executive director at the center, disputes the charges She said the clinic saw 5,000 clients in 2006 and part of 2006, and was thwarted by the IHS in efforts to complete lab work and hire a nurse.

"I feel like I've been stabbed in the back -- and this time, it's by Indians," April Reihm, an Arapaho/Western Shoshone patient, told The Fresno Bee. "How dare they do this? We need this clinic."

Get the Story:
Fresno health center for urban American Indians to close (The Fresno Bee 1/25)
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Relevant Links:
National Council of Urban Indian Health - http://www.ncuih.org
Indian Health Service - http://www.ihs.gov

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