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- There was an outcry for a long-term care center
in our community because we were having to send
all of our residents to other communities.
- You know, our tribe has done a very good job of--
is to listen to the community, listen to the needs,
and, you know, to try to understand, you know,
where the movement of the community is going.
- Our families were having to send their loved ones
outside of the community.
And so visitation was *** the families.
They didn't have that extended network of support,
and so they propositioned leadership and challenged them
to create a long-term care center.
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- We have certain services here that we provide to the community
under home health.
We have four different programs that I oversee.
We have aide services.
We have a respite program. We have CAP services.
And we have skilled nursing care,
which includes physical therapy and in-home nursing.
- We made a very concentrated effort to reach out
to the state rather than relying on them to come to us.
We established rapport
with our Secretary of Health at the state level
and asked for his assistance in creating some liaison
with the state Department of Public Health,
with CMS, the Division of Medical Assistance.
And then we created networks of friends, basically,
and so invited them to our community.
That was the first step
was so that they could see what services are here
and what the--and the good work that we're doing.
And that's more convincing than anything.
And then we helped them understand what FMAP was.
And I think that was a huge step.
- The state is a very important tool for us.
Even though we are a federal tribe
and we are a federal agency,
the state Medicaid funding, the state--
the state support
that we have is crucial, I think,
to a successful home health agency.
- Well, we're fortunate also in our community
to have our own hospital,
and the hospital is run by the tribe.
And so we have a continuum of care in our community
that we're very fortunate to have.
We have in-patient services from our facility.
We have ambulatory clinics.
And so we have a really joint system, really robust system
of networking to refer patients from one continuum to the other.
- I do know that sitting down
with the Medicaid representatives
and the PCS program,
that we have a very good relationship
with that organization, and we're actually
looking to add another program to support our community
in the near future.
- The best advice I can give is:
your tribal leadership has to, first of all,
understand what the real issues are in the community
but also have to be committed to developing services
that are gonna address, you know,
each one of these issues specifically and as a whole--
not just short term but long term.
- Large percentage of our staff are enrolled members
of the Eastern Band.
And we would like for all of them to be, quite honestly,
because then we have family taking care of family.
- Here, I feel like, on a reservation,
if it wasn't here, they wouldn't want to go a nursing home
or be in a care place.
But here everybody feels like that they...
can come and see one another
and communicate with one another very well.
- It's really overwhelming,
the desire of this tribe and its leadership
to care for its elders.
And it's made it a pleasure to work here.
- They feel like that they have a resource
that they can come to.
The tribe puts a lot of effort in everything.
They really follow up on a lot of stuff
to see what needs to be done.
These other tribes, I would like for them to come see this
and see how it is operated, 'cause frankly,
I believe like they're doing a wonderful job.