Claremore Indian Hospital holds a special place in my heart.

I was born in the “old” facility in 1975. My father was born there in 1952. It was built in 1930 and replaced by the “new” facility in 1978. That facility is in deplorable shape and is a shameful reflection of the federal government’s failed priorities and treaty obligations. But there is a bright future thanks to Cherokee Nation.

Claremore was cutting edge in 1978, meeting 1980s standards and replacing the original Depression-era building. But, for 47 years, the federal Indian Health Service shielded Claremore from scrutiny by keeping it at 1980s health care facility standards. In that period, IHS chose not to conduct routine maintenance measures, nor initiate vital changes that could have easily prevented the astounding decline of the hospital.

You read that correctly. Rather than invest in necessary maintenance of Claremore, IHS decided to grandfather Claremore into those 1980s standards.

In September 2024, Deputy Chief Bryan Warner and I called for our nation to assume operations at Claremore. The Council of the Cherokee Nation unanimously agreed. That triggered a process under federal law paving the way for an October 1, 2025, takeover of Claremore by Cherokee Nation. The idea was simple: The feds will step aside, Cherokee Nation will step in, but the feds would remain “on the hook” for providing us with a base level of operating dollars.

The process allowed us — for the first time — to get an inside look at Claremore’s operations and facilities in a way that we could not do without declaring our intent under federal law to assume operations. What we found was worse than we imagined, ranging from unsurprising to shocking, encompassing a wide range of issues, from facility problems to operational wastefulness.

Claremore’s operations are typical federal government inefficiency and indifference to stretching every penny of health care resources to maximize patient services. Its operations are light years behind Cherokee Nation’s standards of efficiency, effectiveness and safety.

Claremore’s in-patient services are extraordinarily wasteful. The hospital had fewer than four patients staying per night for treatment. All of this means fewer health resources for our growing and aging population.

It gets worse: The facility is simply unsafe for patients and staff. By holding itself to 1980s standards and failing to invest in upkeep, IHS has allowed Claremore to deteriorate to a deplorable state, which in most health care systems would not allow them to operate from an accreditation standpoint.

What you see at Claremore on the surface is a facade. Behind new paneling are spongy walls damaged by water. Untreated air leaks into sanitized patient spaces. HVAC systems on the brink of failure. The overall electrical system cannot be tested. No one tests the breakers out of fear they will not turn back on, will not power back on, and the generator will fail.

This is unacceptable. I was not elected to tolerate the federal government’s incompetence or its waste of already insufficient Indian Country health care dollars, especially at the expense of Cherokee Nation citizens and other tribal citizens who go there seeking vital health services. Cherokee Nation was not meant to sit back and allow this to continue. The Cherokee people were meant to lead, and we intend to lead. Now.

That, along with more than eight months of careful study, is the reason I am firmer today in my view that Cherokee Nation must assume operations at Claremore.

We must close the in-patient department but maintain a better functioning emergency room and more efficient outpatient services. A robust menu of services — including prenatal care for expectant mothers — will remain. The Cherokee Nation will not let care for our future children slip. We can absorb the fewer than four patients per day of in-patient needs through local partnerships, and these discussions are happening and by October 1 there will be plans in place for the care of our people. We will continue to explore every opportunity for partnerships in our region with other health systems, as we have always done.

Yes, this will result in the elimination of some positions at Claremore. But the vast majority of positions, about 387, will remain and the only eligible applicants for these positions are the current Claremore staff on site now. We want them to become Cherokee Nation employees and join the largest and best team in all of Indian Country health care. We understand that changes are difficult, but we hope they remain, work for us and are here when we break ground on a state-of-the-art facility with world-class health care for tribal citizens.

Deputy Chief Warner and I have proposed a $255 million investment for health services at Claremore. The plan calls for $11 million to the current facility just to bring it up to minimum health care standards. Our patients deserve a facility that meets modern health care standards and not standards from the 1980s. The rest of the funds will go to building a state-of-the-art outpatient center, emergency room and a new wellness center in Claremore that does not exist currently and will help patients continue their journey of well-being. The facility will open in 2027, built so that it is expandable to include an inpatient tower in the future should we need it. The current building is landlocked for potential expansion.

I am mindful that there are critics of our plan. Some have genuine concern over the future of Claremore, its patients and staff. Others have mixed motives with uninformed conclusions.

The critics are not privy to the state of conditions in the facility, analysis or sat in these negotiations or thought-out decisions for assumption. They criticize from afar, which leads to false rumors about layoffs, being bused away, and stoking fear among our elders and the staff who are essential to making Claremore Indian Hospital into what it has deserved all these decades. We will construct a world-class health care facility in the Claremore area in a very short period of time, and it will be one that everyone can be proud of.

Claremore Indian Hospital is near and dear to my heart. We must create a bright future. This requires leadership, a willingness to take on the federal government over its shameful neglect of Claremore and the ability to make tough decisions with forethought.

That is what the Cherokee people elected me and my fellow leaders to do. That is why the future of Cherokee Nation Health Services in Claremore is bright.

---

---