The Oyate Health Center sits on a plot in west Rapid City on the campus of the old Sioux San Hospital. It opened its doors for the first time Monday.
Jerilyn Church is president and CEO of the Great Plains Tribal Health Board. She said while bittersweet, leaving Sioux San represents a reclamation of tribal sovereignty.
“There’s so much history in that old building – it started as a boarding school, then it transitioned into a tuberculosis center, and then it turned into a hospital, but all of those entities were federally run facilities," Church said. "What Oyate Health Center symbolizes is a new era of tribally managed health care.”
Church said embracing sovereignty will have tangible benefits for patients.
“What we are embracing here is wellness, not only from the physical standpoint, but we support and recognize that our emotional wellbeing is such an important part of our overall wellness," Church said. "So, when our relatives come into this building, they’ll recognize that which is familiar to them as a reminder that this is a safe place.”
The new space will also increase capacity.
“We’ll be able to expand our primary care to a lot more than we are doing now in the current facility, but what we’ll also be able to do is provide specialty care," Church said. "We have partners in the community that we hope will be joining us for those services that we routinely refer out.”
The fate of Sioux San Hospital is unclear, and the final decision is in the hands of the Indian Health Service.