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Mashpee tribe to get health center

Written by Administrator

Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Mashpee tribe to get health center By HEATHER WYSOCKI August 02, 2010 MASHPEE — In time for the most severe months of flu season, the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe will have increased access to health care through a federally sponsored clinic. According to tribe officials, Indian Health Service, a branch of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, is constructing a two-building health clinic on land adjacent to tribal council headquarters on Great Neck Road South. The center should be open by January, said Cheryl Frye-Cromwell, a tribal council member and its health care liaison. "This will definitely benefit us for many reasons," Frye-Cromwell said. "We'll really know that our tribal members are taking care of themselves." A $675,000 federal grant will build and equip the health center, which will consist of an administration building and a 4,800-square-foot health clinic — both modular buildings — with four exam rooms, two procedure rooms and a laboratory, according to Brooke Scannell, spokeswoman for the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe. Medical and dental services will be available to tribe members free through IHS, which helps cover outstanding costs for tribe members. But tribe members will be encouraged to join MassHealth or another insurance program to cut costs to the federal office, Frye-Cromwell said. "IHS looks to be a last resort for any payment," she said. An "alternative resource clerk" will be employed at the center to help tribe members find other payment options, she said. The federal office will run, staff and pay for the center for the next three to five years, according to Frye-Cromwell. After that, the Mashpee tribe plans to take over and build a permanent facility. The tribe requested that a health care center be built in Mashpee when it became federally recognized in 2007, said Allen Bollinger, area facilities engineer for the IHS office based in Nashville, Tenn. The Nashville office serves all tribes east of the Mississippi River, Bollinger said. A local health center will benefit the Mashpee tribe greatly, because "transportation is more than likely to be a barrier for many tribe members" in getting health care, Frye-Cromwell said. A health care center could decrease the numbers of help tribal members with diabetes, substance abuse and resulting cardiovascular issues, which tribe members have at a higher-than-average rate than other populations in the state, Frye-Cromwell said. The tribe is currently using a one-year grant to help members with intake into substance abuse treatment centers, Frye-Cromwell said. That money will dry up in September, making the health center even more necessary. "If it's right here, health care becomes manageable," said Frye-Cromwell. Tribal health center director Rita Gonsalves, a registered nurse, has applied to IHS to run the new center, as well, Frye-Cromwell said. http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100802/NEWS/8020314

 

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