1958-02-01 Char-Koosta News

              Health Services Explained
All health services, except dental care, for members of the Flathead Reservation are furnished by contract. Contracts have been arranged with all hospitals in the area to provide hospital service to eligible tribal members. Preventive medicine programs are provided by Montana Health District II in Poison, under terms of a contract between the Division of Indian Health and the Montana State Board of Health.
Hospital Care
For the first six months of this fiscal year, July 1 through December 31, 1957, there have been 756 tribal members admitted to hospitals in the area. These patients stayed in the hospitals a total of 5,023 days — an average stay of 6.7 days for each admission. Over $110,000.00 has been allocated by the Division of Indian Health to pay for hospital and doctor bills that have been incurred by tribal members during this six-month period.
Dental Care
Dental services are available to all tribal members at the Dental Clinic located at the agency in Dixon. However, the dental needs of the children have first priority except in emergency cases.
There were 693 visits made to the dentist during the period July 1 through December 31, 1957.
Preventive Medical Services
Preventive medicine services are provided by Montana Health District II at Poison, Montana. The District health officer is a commissioned public health service officer and his salary is paid from Indian health funds. In his present assignment, he has a dual responsibility. He is the medical officer in charge of the division of Indian Health program for the Flathead Reservation. He also serves as Health officer of Health District II by agreement with the Montana State Board of Health.
Under terms of the contract, the Health District provides the services of public health nurses, a health educator and sanitarian to carry on the reservation preventive medicine program.
It is not possible to give a six-month report on preventive medicine services provided on the Reservation. The Health District reports activities on a quarterly basis and the report for the second quarter (September through December) has not been received. Our next report will cover these services for the full year.
During the first three months of this fiscal year, the Health District reported the following activities:
Preventive Medicine Clinics
A well-child conference is held at Arlee once each month. Services offered at the conference include physical examinations, immunizations and health guidance. During the three month period July through September, 87 persons attended the conference.
ublic Health Nursing
Public Health nurses made 268 visits to Indian homes. Nearly one-half of the homes visits were made to see people who either had tuberculosis or had been in contact with the disease.
The nurses also arranged for polio im-
CHAR-KOOSTA
PUBLISHED BY CONFEDERATED SALISH AND KOOTENAI TRIBES, FLATHEAD AGENCY, MONT.
Vol. 2 — No. 4
Feb., 1958
Drainage Result In Better Farm Operation
The drainage of waterlogged soils and wet areas can often result in increased crop yields and substantially increased incomes to farmers and ranchers who carry out this conservation practice.
In the photograph above Frank Webster is draining a large, natural pond that has hindered his ranching program on his trust unit just south of Ronan, Montana Water seeped from the pond and caused a wet condition in cropland soils at a lower elevation. Mr. Webster is one of several young members of the Tribe interested in the development of available resources into a paying beef production unit. In order to accomplish this goal he feels that he must develop his land to
munization clinics and hearing tests in the schools.
Health Education
The Public Health educator has been working with community groups in an effort to set up Health Committees in Lake County. She also prepared a health exhibit for the Sanders County Fair. Other activities included showing health movies and meeting with community groups to discuss health services. Sanitation
There was no full-time sanitarian in the District Health Department during this report period. There was, however, a Division of Indian Health sanitarian at Dixon until October. Since his resignation, the position has been vacant and there are no immediate plans for filling the vacancy.
In November, a full-time sanitarian was employed by the Health District.
the maximum production of which it is capable.
The drainage ditch is only one of several conservation practices completed on his ranch in the past year. An intensive summer fallow operation was carried out on one irrigable field that was badly invaded with quackgrass. This same field had heavy clay-pan subsoils and was deep-plowed or subsoiled to open up the clay and permit better water and air movement through the ground. These practices will be carried out on other fields until all of the land is cleaned of quackgrass and high yielding, high quality hay mixtures are seeded on the cleaned land. The meadows that have been producing only one to one and one-half tons of hay per acre should produce three to four tons of good quality hay when re-seeded to good hay mixtures.
Drainage of the pond's waters resulted in an unexpected bonus to the Webster family who have been without a domestic water supply on the unit. A strong spring was discovered in the bottom of the dried pond. It will be developed and its water piped to the house for domestic use.
Mr. Webster's accomplishments are good examples what a farmer or rancher can do with the assistance available to him. Soil and engineering surveys with recommendations for land treatment and use were provided by Land Operations personnel of the Flathead Agency. The cost of the drainage and subsoiling practices were shared by the Federal ACP and the drainage work was performed with Lake  County SCD equipment.