The Fort Yuma Service Unit in Yuma, Arizona, is the oldest Indian Health Service facility in the nation, with buildings that date to 1852 and 1963. Photo from Quechan Tribe

The Indian Health Service is finally replacing the oldest facility in Indian Country.

The clinic at the Fort Yuma Service Unit is housed in a building that dates to 1852. It will be replaced by a $33.7 million facility that was decades in the making.

The long wait frustrated the Quechan Tribe and the Cocopah Tribe. So their leaders were overjoyed at the groundbreaking on Wednesday.

"We've come a long way. We've had to start over several times. We asked for a better facility, we asked for better service," Quechan council member Cryselle Uribe said at the ceremony, The Yuma Sun reported. "We were always told to do, and we would do it, but we would always have to start over, and do it a different way."

Construction is expected to be completed in mid-2017 but it could take longer for it to open to the public, the paper reported. Tribal leaders are looking for ways to speed the process, Quechan President Mike Jackson Sr. said.

Get the Story:
New clinic to serve Yuma-area tribes (The Yuma Sun 1/28)

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