Breaking news: Listening sessions on Native American health care set

A team of officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will be on the Hi-Line this week to get ideas on how to improve health care for Native Americans.

The group will have a site visit to the Fort Belknap Indian Community today.

Up to 40 CDC officials will be at Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation on Tuesday for a listening session that will be moderated by State Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, vice chairman of the Chippewa Cree Tribal Council. The discussion will center on longstanding concerns of the Rocky Boy community as well as those that have developed because of the recent flooding which closed the new health clinic.

On Wednesday, the CDC's Tribal Consultation Committee will meet in Havre, and a meeting between CDC representatives and officials of all Montana tribes will be held in Havre.

Times and places will soon be announced.

The session resulted from a tribal consultation held by the federal Department of Health and Human Services in March, where Windy Boy and Tracy King, president of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, spoke about health care problems on the reservations.

Full details will be in Monday's Havre Daily News.

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