Indian Health Service (IHS) director Roselyn Tso toured Wind River Family & Community Health Care clinics in Riverton and Arapahoe earlier this week.

The IHS is the main federal health care provider for Native peoples throughout the U.S. However, the Northern Arapaho Tribe has operated Wind River Family & Community Health Care independently of IHS since 2016.

Tso, who is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, toured the facilities with members of the Northern Arapaho Business Council to see what the tribe has done to expand services for members of their own community. The Center provides primary care, traditional healing, preventive care and wellness support. Last winter, the clinic converted old COVID-19 quarantine trailers into temporary housing for those in need of shelter.

“It is beautiful to see what the tribe has built in order to expand services for their people,” said Director Tso in a press release from the Northern Arapaho Tribe. “I want to leave IHS in a better place than when I arrived. That means I’m determined to move resources and decision making into the hands of tribes and tribal leaders, where they belong.”

Last summer, Northern Arapaho Business Council Co-Chairman Lee Spoonhunter testified to Congress about the importance of bolstering IHS funding and combating challenges to tribal health care. Some of those challenges include high staff turnover and aging facilities.

“We face challenges like all tribal health care entities, but we are tremendously proud of the quality services available at Wind River Family & Community Health Care and glad Director Tso visited to see what we have to offer,” said Wind River Family & Community Health Care Director Richard Brannan in the press release. “Our physicians, nurses and other health care professionals make a life-saving difference every day – never more so than during the pandemic.”