Dialysis Center coming to Northern Cheyenne

LAME DEER, Mont. – In late September, 2024, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe held a ground-breaking ceremony for what will be a new dialysis center. The location is a green grassy lot on the grounds of the Lame Deer I.H.S. Clinic. 

The occasion was well-attended by community members, tribal council members and visitors, including consultants instrumental in developing the project, and host drum group, the event announced by Sean Old Mouse, local emcee.

The new facility is dedicated to members of the Tribe who have perished from kidney disease, many after spending years on dialysis treatment. Thirty-eight empty chairs, many decorated by pictures, blankets and such represented those victims, though that was only a partial list.

“This is a momentous occasion for the Tribe,” commented Debra Charette, tribal council member and also Chairman of the Board of Health. “It has been years in the planning and we thank the Indigenous PACT organization, BOLDT Engineering firm, Colton Small, tribal member and engineer and the Board of Health for making this possible. It will improve the quality of life for our dialysis patients and allow them to spend more time at home with their families.”

Presently, an average of 12 tribal members are transported by the I.H.S. Transportation Service three times per week to receive dialysis treatment in Billings. It is a grueling trip, requiring the patients to board a bus about 5:00 a.m. in the morning; receive treatment which takes several hours; wait for other patients to get finished; then endure the two-hour trip home; generally arriving back home about 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Old Mouse spoke of the hardship this brings to the patients and families as his parents and one brother succumbed to diabetes after suffering years of treatment. “We need to bond back together and be aware of health,” he stressed. “Encourage them to keep going everyday.”

The new center will be named “Life Goes on” selected from a naming contest. That name was suggested by Janice Doney, an I.H.S. nurse.

The facility is on a “fast-track” according to Keith Novenski, from Indigenous PACT (a non-profit dedicated to improving rural health care). Construction is expected to begin soon with a completion goal of 60-75 days.

Other speakers included Gina Littlewolf, Tribal Health Board Directors; Maria Russell, tribal member and I.H.S. nurse, and Lindsay Noss, who has been the Tribal Health Board lawyer for many years. The ground-breaking ceremony and blessing was conducted by Alan Blackwolf, former Sacred Hat Keeper. The drum group providing honor songs and follow up gourd dancing drumming was a local group, “Cheyenne Boys.”

The facility will include exam rooms, a nurses station, 12 patient bays a kitchen and reception area. As of press time, it was not possible to contact tribal officials to get information about the funding source or the project costs.

The Northern Cheyenne Tribe previously had a local dialysis center, however that could not be sustained permanently due to staffing and water quality problems. Those issues, Charette reassured have now been resolved, so that prospects for the longevity of the center are good. 

(Contact Clara Caufield at acheyennevoice2@gmail.com)

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