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NEWS
FROM
SENATOR TIM JOHNSON,
SENATOR JOHN THUNE, and
REPRESENTATIVE STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Friday, July 27, 2007
Contact: Julianne Fisher, 202-224-1638
Kyle Downey, 202-228-5939
Russ Levsen, 202-226-4449
SD
Delegation Fights to Keep Wagner Emergency Room Service
Washington,
DC –U.S.
Senators Tim Johnson (D-SD) and John Thune (R-SD) and U.S. Representative
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD) today sent a letter to Indian Health
Service (IHS) Director Dr. Charles Grim to express strong support for
continued 24-hour service at the Wagner Service Unit's Emergency Room.
In the letter, which
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall also supported
and signed, the delegation explained the vital role of 24 hour service
at the Wagner facility and the burden that would be created by cutting
back its hours of operation. Since IHS initially attempted to cut back
hours in December 2005, there have been multiple efforts by the delegation
as a whole and as individuals to ensure that the facility is not forced
to decrease its services.
Full text of the
letter to IHS Director Dr. Grim:
July 26, 2007
Dear Dr. Grim,
We are writing to
express our strong support for continued 24-hour service at the Wagner
Service Unit's Emergency Room. A reduction in operating hours is strongly
opposed by both the Yankton Sioux Tribe, which the facility was constructed
to serve, and the Wagner Community Hospital.
The current Wagner
Service Unit is state of the art, pristine, well staffed and a huge
benefit to the community at large. It not only serves Yankton Sioux
Tribal members, but Ponca and Santee Sioux Tribal members from Nebraska,
as well as Urban Indians from Sioux Falls. The Wagner Community Hospital
has also expressed support for the continuation of 24-hour services
to avoid being unjustly overwhelmed by the additional burden of the
Indian Health Service (IHS) facility cutting back from 24-hour-a-day
service. This is truly a situation that affects the entire community.
Continued 24-hour
service at the facility is critical to the health and well-being of
the Yankton Sioux Tribe and the surrounding community. The most recent
impact analysis of the planned service reduction, contained in the 2005
IHS commissioned Sharpless report, explicitly acknowledges that with
the facility’s closing “it could be forecast that lives would certainly
be lost” if the hours of service are reduced at the facility. In what
can only be described as a life or death situation, it is imperative
that the IHS maintain 24-hour-a-day service at this critically important
facility.
Tim Johnson, U.S.
Senate
John Thune,
U.S. Senate
Stephanie Herseth, U.S. House of Representatives
Nick J. Rahall,
II, Chairman, Natural Resources Committee, U.S. House of Representatives
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