Rosebud woman nominated to lead IHS
By Rob Capriccioso
Story
Published: Mar 27, 2009
WASHINGTON – Rosebud Sioux tribal member Yvette Roubideaux, 46, was
nominated March 23 by President Barack Obama to direct the IHS. If confirmed
by the Senate, she will become the first American Indian woman to ever lead
the agency.
Obama said in a statement that he has confidence Roubideaux, an assistant
professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, will be an
effective advocate.
A White House release noted that she has conducted extensive research on
American Indian health issues, with a special focus on diabetes in American
Indian and Alaska Native communities and American Indian health policy.
Roubideaux has regularly offered input on diabetes-related issues, writing
in a 2007 column about her belief in the importance of supporting the
Special Diabetes Program for Indians.
“Most people know about all the new diabetes prevention activities in their
communities – fun runs, cooking classes, health fairs or new exercise
equipment at the wellness or community centers,” she wrote.
“Some notice they are getting newer medications, meters to check their blood
glucose and a lot more attention in the clinic. But few associate these new
activities and services with the actual name of the congressional funding
that led to their creation: the Special Diabetes Program for Indians.”
In July, when the program was reauthorized through Sept. 2011, she said in
an interview with ICT that “[t]he reauthorization of SDPI is critical for us
to continue to be able to offer all of the progress that’s been made since
the funding started 10 years ago.”
She noted, however, that the program was still being funded at the same
level, $150 million, as when it was reauthorized in 2002.
“It’s clearly not enough money,” she said. “And the problem of diabetes
isn’t solved very easily.
She stated in a February interview that the rate of heart disease in
American Indians has grown rapidly as Indians are living longer, and the
rates of diabetes and obesity have skyrocketed.
Not one to shy away from making her views known, Roubideaux has also been a
critic of the agency she has been nominated to lead.
“My first encounters with the health care system were as a patient in the
Indian Health Service,” she testified before Congress nearly a decade ago.
“The IHS is severely underfunded and understaffed, and I often waited four
to six hours to see a doctor.”
She later worked for IHS to help improve the system from the inside, serving
as a medical officer and clinical director on the San Carlos Indian
Reservation and in the Gila River Indian Community.
Roubideaux’s abundant familiarity of the health needs of American Indians
have helped her become a staunch advocate for the reauthorization of the
Indian Health Care Improvement Act. If confirmed to the IHS leadership
position, many tribal leaders expect her to urge Congress to pass the
long-stalled bill, for which Obama has expressed strong support.
Roubideaux currently serves as the co-director of the Coordinating Center
for the Special Diabetes Program for Indians Competitive Demonstration
Projects, a program implementing diabetes prevention and cardiovascular
disease prevention activities in 66 American Indian and Alaska Native
communities.
She also serves as director of programs associated with the University of
Arizona that focus on recruiting American Indian and Alaska Native students
into health and research professions.
She received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and her master’s
degree from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Roubideaux, who served on Obama’s transition team, is no stranger to the
national political scene and its connections to Indian health. She was
appointed to the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s
Advisory Committee on Minority Health from 2000-2002. From 1999-2000, she
served as president of the Association of American Indian Physicians.
If confirmed, she will start serving as head of IHS at a time when the Obama
administration and Congress are beginning to account for long shortfalls in
the agency’s budget.
As part of the February federal stimulus law, the agency is on schedule to
receive $500 million to support the construction and modernization of IHS
health facilities and strengthen the use of health information technology at
those facilities.
The law calls for IHS to spend $227 million for health facilities
construction, $100 million in maintenance and improvements, $85 million for
health information technology, $68 million for sanitation facilities
construction, $20 million for health equipment and will help improve health
care in Indian country.
Obama has also outlined a first budget that will include more than $4
billion for IHS – a substantial increase over previous years.
Roubideaux would replace Robert McSwain, a member of the North Fork
Rancheria of Mono Indians who was a George W. Bush appointee. He was sworn
in just last May.
© 1998 - 2009 Indian
Country Today. All Rights Reserved To subscribe or visit go to:
http://www.indiancountry.com
|