Post by Okwes on Sept 11, 2006 9:00:04 GMT -5
Emergency help sought for clinic
By Rachel Rice
Friday, September 08, 2006 - Bangor Daily News << Back
PRESQUE ISLE - Local tribal members were scrambling for health care services Thursday after administrators with the Aroostook Band of Micmacs laid off about 40 employees and shut down the Micmac Family Clinic earlier this week, citing financial problems.
With the clinic closed, about 400 band members were left without tribal health care, though officials said they may seek treatment at emergency rooms or doctors' offices in the area. Most of the layoffs were health care-related, but one-fourth of the jobs were administrative, leaving just a skeleton crew in the tribal office.
Victoria Higgins, acting chief for the tribe while Chief William Phillips is on sick leave, said Thursday that officials were investigating the lack of tribal funding that forced the closing and layoffs, though they believe it is due in large part to "unexpected needs."
Tribal members who have called for Phillips' removal, however, have alleged that the lack of funding is due to financial mismanagement.
Attempts to reach Phillips for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.
Higgins said she was put in place as acting chief in mid-August and learned that the tribe was so "low on cash" that it would have to lay off employees. She said this happened because there was "not enough money budgeted for unexpected needs."
"We tried to keep the staff on as long as we could," Higgins said. "We thought the layoffs would come later."
But last week, she said, officials concluded they "could no longer keep them" on the job. They officially laid off the employees on Friday and told directors about it Monday.
A tribal employee and a tribal member said Thursday that most people in the tribe did not receive the news until late Monday or Tuesday.
"I was at the Littleton clinic on Tuesday during a directors' meeting and [my boss] told me, 'Oh yeah, today is all volunteer,'" said Dale Gordon, a family nurse practitioner and health care provider with the Micmac Family Clinic. "Everything just shut down Tuesday at 2 p.m."
Gordon has sent a letter to U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both Maine Republicans, and U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine, asking for support in the tribe's effort to secure emergency help from the Indian Health Service. The national organization, based in Nashville, Tenn., provides contract funding for the local clinic's operations.
According to a memo Gordon sent to the Maine delegation, the tribe needs about $933,000 to provide health care through December.
Higgins declined to give any financial figures, saying "that's what we're trying to find out."
A spokesman for Collins acknowledged that her office had contacted the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service, urging them to help reopen the clinic as soon as possible and to give the issue its "highest priority."
Higgins said officials will get the clinic back on line and rehire laid-off employees as soon as funding becomes available.
Meanwhile, at least one tribal member said the community is outraged at the situation.
"For the first time in our tribe's life, for the first time in my life, I have to worry about something called health insurance," Teresitia Hamel said Thursday. "I've never had to worry about how me and my kids would be covered if we needed appointments or prescriptions."
She said others feel the same way. "Oh, they're angry. Our numbers are growing on a daily basis because of this shutdown," she said, referring to the tribal members who want to remove Phillips from office. "All we care about is trying to protect our tribe's future for all the generations to come."
This summer, tribal members submitted a petition calling for his removal, and officials conducted an investigation into his financial management, ultimately determining that about $1 million in funding had been misappropriated.
The investigation and the chief's voted-upon removal were ruled illegal by a BIA official who, in a letter last week, said that he would recognize Phillips as the duly elected leader of the band.
By Rachel Rice
Friday, September 08, 2006 - Bangor Daily News << Back
PRESQUE ISLE - Local tribal members were scrambling for health care services Thursday after administrators with the Aroostook Band of Micmacs laid off about 40 employees and shut down the Micmac Family Clinic earlier this week, citing financial problems.
With the clinic closed, about 400 band members were left without tribal health care, though officials said they may seek treatment at emergency rooms or doctors' offices in the area. Most of the layoffs were health care-related, but one-fourth of the jobs were administrative, leaving just a skeleton crew in the tribal office.
Victoria Higgins, acting chief for the tribe while Chief William Phillips is on sick leave, said Thursday that officials were investigating the lack of tribal funding that forced the closing and layoffs, though they believe it is due in large part to "unexpected needs."
Tribal members who have called for Phillips' removal, however, have alleged that the lack of funding is due to financial mismanagement.
Attempts to reach Phillips for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.
Higgins said she was put in place as acting chief in mid-August and learned that the tribe was so "low on cash" that it would have to lay off employees. She said this happened because there was "not enough money budgeted for unexpected needs."
"We tried to keep the staff on as long as we could," Higgins said. "We thought the layoffs would come later."
But last week, she said, officials concluded they "could no longer keep them" on the job. They officially laid off the employees on Friday and told directors about it Monday.
A tribal employee and a tribal member said Thursday that most people in the tribe did not receive the news until late Monday or Tuesday.
"I was at the Littleton clinic on Tuesday during a directors' meeting and [my boss] told me, 'Oh yeah, today is all volunteer,'" said Dale Gordon, a family nurse practitioner and health care provider with the Micmac Family Clinic. "Everything just shut down Tuesday at 2 p.m."
Gordon has sent a letter to U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both Maine Republicans, and U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine, asking for support in the tribe's effort to secure emergency help from the Indian Health Service. The national organization, based in Nashville, Tenn., provides contract funding for the local clinic's operations.
According to a memo Gordon sent to the Maine delegation, the tribe needs about $933,000 to provide health care through December.
Higgins declined to give any financial figures, saying "that's what we're trying to find out."
A spokesman for Collins acknowledged that her office had contacted the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service, urging them to help reopen the clinic as soon as possible and to give the issue its "highest priority."
Higgins said officials will get the clinic back on line and rehire laid-off employees as soon as funding becomes available.
Meanwhile, at least one tribal member said the community is outraged at the situation.
"For the first time in our tribe's life, for the first time in my life, I have to worry about something called health insurance," Teresitia Hamel said Thursday. "I've never had to worry about how me and my kids would be covered if we needed appointments or prescriptions."
She said others feel the same way. "Oh, they're angry. Our numbers are growing on a daily basis because of this shutdown," she said, referring to the tribal members who want to remove Phillips from office. "All we care about is trying to protect our tribe's future for all the generations to come."
This summer, tribal members submitted a petition calling for his removal, and officials conducted an investigation into his financial management, ultimately determining that about $1 million in funding had been misappropriated.
The investigation and the chief's voted-upon removal were ruled illegal by a BIA official who, in a letter last week, said that he would recognize Phillips as the duly elected leader of the band.