PRESS
RELEASE
POC:
CRST Public Relations
Rock
LeBeau
(605)964-8308
For
immediate release June 13, 2005
Long Awaited CRST Elderly Village to Begin
Construction
After
years of political wrangling and planning, the
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe (CRST) is pleased
to announce that it will break ground on its
new 60-unit “ Elderly Village” on June
29 th. The new skilled nursing facility demonstrates
the Tribe’s determination to bring its elders
home, as well as the cooperative spirit between
the Tribe and the State of South Dakota in seeing
this project through to fruition.
The
vision to construct and operate a nursing home
on the Cheyenne River Reservation has been in
the minds of Tribal leaders for over 20 years.
As Chairman Harold Frazier stated, “For too
long our elderly have lived near and far, struggling
to survive on what little they have, catching rides
to the medical facilities on rough road conditions
and battling the waiting line at the hospital,
among the other difficulties they face. The elderly
village will be a sacred home to all elderly and
they will be taken care of by our own people and
will not have to leave the reservation. Our elderly
are our Wisdom Keepers and they deserve to have
a place to call their own.”
Currently,
the nearest nursing facilities to the Cheyenne
River Reservation are located in Pierre (90 miles),
Mobridge (80 miles), Gettysburg (60 miles) and
Rapid City (175 miles). For decades, elderly
members of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe have
had to move to these distant locales in order
to receive skilled nursing care when their families
could no longer take care of them. By the Tribe’s
estimate, there are 45 Tribal members currently
residing in off-Reservation nursing facilities,
and 15 Tribal members living with families on the
Reservation and whose physical and/or mental impairments
would make them eligible for skilled nursing assistance.
Additionally, there are estimated to be 15-20 non-Tribal
members who would utilize the services provided
in the Elderly Village.
The
State of South Dakota administers all Medicaid
funds in the state, including Medicaid funds paid
for the care of eligible nursing home residents.
Because of a perceived oversupply of nursing home
beds in the state, in the 1980’s the Legislature
implemented a permanent ban on the construction
of any new nursing homes in the state. Although
the Tribe was not legally or technically barred
from constructing a nursing home by the State’s
moratorium, it was fiscally prevented from doing
so because the ban meant that the Tribe could not
access any potential residents’ state-administered
Medicaid funds to pay for the construction or operation
of the facility.
In
2003, because of advocacy from the CRST, other
Tribes and the Indian Legislators, the SD Legislature
agreed to temporarily lift the moratorium and allow
the construction of nursing homes on any of the
Indian Reservations located in the state, provided
that such nursing homes met certain conditions.
The moratorium was only lifted until June 30, 2005.
After that date, no new nursing homes can be constructed
anywhere in South Dakota – not even if there
is a documented need for one in a place like the
Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation.
Given
this limited window of opportunity, the Tribe
began planning an “elderly village” in
the town of Eagle Butte. The elderly village will
be a 60-bed facility, comprised of 50 skilled nursing
units and 10 assisted living units. It will employ
approximately 60 people, most of whom will be Tribal
members. Construction will take approximately one
year. The facility is scheduled to open in July
2006.
The
elderly village would not have been possible
without the generous financial assistance from
the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. In a
recent letter to Chairman Frazier, the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Sioux Community Chairman Stanley Crooks
commented on the relationship between the two Tribes: “Once
again, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Tribe is
very happy to work with the Cheyenne River Sioux
Tribe in its efforts to develop the Elderly Village
and its reservation based economy.” Chairman
Frazier is pleased to have a positive working relationship
with the Shakopee Tribe: “I want to thank
the Shakopee’s for helping us. It is good
that we have relatives who are willing to assist
our Tribe and our people in any way they can.”
The Ground Breaking Ceremony will take place
on June 29, 2005 at 1:00 p.m. at the proposed site
on Airport Road in Eagle Butte. The public is invited
to attend.
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