BILLINGS — In Lame Deer, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe is planning a new dialysis center, which tribal officials say is a lifeline for a community struggling with high diabetes rates and a 220-mile round trip drive for life-saving care.
However, the road to medical sovereignty is paved with bumps along the way, following a few failed dialysis center attempts over the past 40 years.
In Lame Deer, Ashland and other places on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, dialysis is becoming a death sentence for far too many tribal members as they give up on the long drive to Billings to seek medical care, but now there's new hope on the horizon.
“I go three times a week. I went yesterday. I'm free today and then tomorrow I go again. We’re all dreading winter cause the roads get really icy and you never know what the weather is going to be like,” says Elsie Standing Elk Wick, as she describes her weekly dialysis routine.
“She leaves at nine o'clock in the morning. She returns at 5:30. There was times that she wanted to give up. She was done going to Billings,” says Christine “Bitty” Wick, Elsie Wick’s daughter.
On Tuesday, Lame Deer dialysis patient Elsie Standing Elk Wick and her daughters attended a ground blessing in Lame Deer for the new dialysis center expected to open in December.
Much of Elsie Wick's life is spent in the car or in the dialysis chair, and that's a life many are choosing to give up on, contributing to the nearly 50 empty chairs at the ground blessing, filled only by the memories of those who died while needing dialysis.
“Right now we hear about 15 to 20 people traveling on a daily basis, but we know people make choices. The choice is, I'm going to live at home and be with my family instead of go get care. With the high rate of diabetes within tribal nations, I have no doubt that this care and this clinic will serve a great number of people,” says Keith Novenski, Indigenous Pact Director of Healing Spaces.
“I would like to say to the people, you need to get away from your love affair with sugar. It’s the one that gets you down,” Wick warned.
“It goes back to historical food replacement in tribal nations. It also goes to where tribes were given reservations or put on reservations. Land quality is sometimes poor, so hard to sustain and grow,” says Novenski.
Novenski works for Indigenous Pact, a woman-owned business focused on health equity for Native Americans and Alaska natives. His role is to create the prototype for a functioning rural dialysis center.
“What if we bring a smaller solution close to home? So this clinic is 4,000 square feet in size, it can treat at any given moment 12 patients. We could do morning sessions, afternoon sessions. Since it's really every other day, we can have a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday,” says Novenski.
But even council members like Melissa Lonebear say it’s a big financial risk for the tribe after a feasibility study said no to the project due to clean water challenges, staffing shortages and funding.
“When I got the results of the feasibility study, I told them that it wasn't acceptable, and I explained to the group that we have to do this, that we have to make this work for our people,” says Lonebear.
Lonebear’s father and aunt’s memory sit in the chairs, decorated by family, picture-proof that local access to healthcare is critical.
“I commend the tribal leadership and taking this really a bold step to stretch and say, let's do this. Let's take care of our people, and once it's up and running, other people will see the value,” says Novenski.
Novenski said the water issue has been solved with this new building being built off-site and brought in, but the tribe is still looking for additional funding for the $7 million clinic. It is expected to take 6-9 people per shift to run the facility, which can treat up to 12 patients at a time. Jobs include dialysis techs, who can be trained over a 10-week period in an emerging partnership at Chief Dull Knife College.
All donations are tax-deductible.
Nizhoni Friesz is the point person for any donations and can be reached via Nizhoni.friesz@cheyennenation.com or 406-477-4847.
Checks may be mailed to:
Northern Cheyenne Tribe
600 Cheyenne Avenue
Lame Deer, MT 59043
