"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - CN Council Approves Health Improvement Plan

(L to R) Bradley Cobb and Buel Anglen, Cherokee Nation Tribal Council members representing Tulsa and Washington counties, join with their constituents Lahoma Wilson and Michelle Hamilton as they are presented with the Gadugi Award during the January Tribal Council meeting in Tahlequah.

TAHLEQUAH, OK - The Cherokee Nation Tribal Council approved a resolution supporting and endorsing the Cherokee Nation Health Capital Improvement Plan during their monthly meeting held Monday night in Tahlequah.

The resolution states that the Council “strongly supports and endorses” the 2001 Long Range Health Plan, which was updated in 2006, which contains specific health capital improvements needed to raise the quantity and quality of health care for Cherokee citizens. The 2006 update included specific facility needs for W.W. Hastings Hospital and the adjoining site owned by the Nation. In October 2008, the Cherokee Nation assumed operations of Hastings Hospital from the Indian Health Service.

The Council also passed a resolution supporting the development of a Cherokee Nation Child Abduction Response Team, which would include professionals from several areas, including law enforcement, rescue professionals and social workers.

Training for the program would be provided by the United States Department of Justice, and is designed for professionals from a variety of disciplines within a community that may be involved in the immediate response to a missing or abducted child incident.

Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Melanie Knight, standing in for Principal Chief Chad Smith who was in California on tribal business, honored Lahoma Wilson and Michelle Hamilton with the Gadugi Award, recognizing work they have done in their communities. Wilson served many years as a volunteer instructor and storyteller to Native American children. Hamilton served on the Board of Directors of the Indian Health Resource Center of Tulsa and is a Cherokee history instructor.

In other business, the Council confirmed the nomination of Jennifer Barger Johnson as a Cherokee Nation Gaming Commissioner and the nomination of Jay Hannah to the Board of Directors of Cherokee Nation Enterprises and to the Board of Directors for Cherokee Nation Businesses. The Council also reconfirmed the nominations of Michael C. Webber and David Tippeconnic to the Board of Directors for Cherokee Nation Enterprises and Warren Ross, Charles Plunkett and David Ballew to the Board of Directors for Cherokee Nation Industries.

The Council also passed an act amending the budget for fiscal year 2009. The amendment included an increase of $500,000 to improve roads within Cherokee Nation housing complexes. The total budget for the year is now at $499 million.