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RELEASE: 11-03-03
D.
Alice LaClaire
Public Relations Coordinator
Phone: 605-964-4155
The
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe during their regularly
scheduled Council Meeting passed a Resolution creating
the Wisdom Keepers Department. Chairman Frazier
stated that the goal of the Elderly Protection Team
and the Tribe is to respect and protect our elderly
members of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.
The
Wisdom Keepers Department was created to honor and
respect our elderly members of our Tribe and rather
than referring to them as elderly, they will be
recognized as “Wisdom Keepers”. The
Wisdom Keepers Department will be over seen by the
Wisdom Keepers Board who will be appointed by the
Tribal Chairman from the Tribal membership of each
district in addition to the six appointed members
currently serving on the Board. These Board members
will serve in the capacity for a period of two years.
In
conjunction with the creation of the Wisdom Keepers
Department, the Tribal Council allocated funding
to hire an Executive Director for the Wisdom Keepers
Department. The Bureau of Indian Affairs contributed
start up costs for the Wisdom Keepers Department
and the Tribe is currently seeking funding from
other sources as well. Part of the funding that
is sought by the Tribe is for an office building
that would centralize all offices and programs that
provide services to the elderly. This would allow
the Elderly to be able to take care of all their
business in one place.
Chairman
Frazier stated that “getting the Nursing Home
was the beginning and now this is the Tribe’s
continued commitment of taking care of our Elderly.”
The CRST received approval on the nursing Home after
extensive advocacy efforts. A Team of dedicated
members continue to oversee the progress of the
Nursing Home. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe has
now selected a company to design the Elderly Village/Nursing
Home and the completion date is tentatively set
for the Summer of 2005. “We will be able to
bring our Elderly home to be near Relatives and
take care of them,” said, Chairman Frazier.
The
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe is located in Northwest
Central South Dakota, and is the home to four Bands
of the Lakota Teton Sioux: the Minnecoujou, the
Itazipco, the Oohenumpa, and the Siha Sapa. The
reservation includes all of Dewey and Ziebach counties
(among the poorest in the Nation) and encompasses
over 2.8 million acres of land. The Tribal enrollment
is 13,270, with the unemployment rate at approximately
78%.
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