Impoverished Pine Ridge appeals for health clinic

But help unlikely for reservations, Sanford says

By Megan Myers

PINE RIDGE INDIAN RESERVATION - The people here who care for the sick amid rural isolation and a deep-rooted poverty that's created Third World health conditions see opportunity in a medical project backed by the wealth of a Sioux Falls health system.

The people here on South Dakota's largest reservation, far removed from the daily life of most Americans, also face a continent of competition and strong odds of exclusion.

Sanford Health, already a massive collection of hospitals and clinics spread across four states, plans to use part of the $400 million donated by its namesake philanthropist, T. Denny Sanford, to build a network of pediatric clinics across North America. The project, to be carried out during the next decade, promises to bring first-rate care to far-flung areas and, at the same time, collect data from diverse patient populations to feed back to a children's hospital and burgeoning research empire in Sioux Falls.

Some Native Americans point out that, when it comes to the Upper Midwest, they epitomize diversity - not only in terms of race but also in economics, geography and the range of health issues that afflict the reservations much more severely than anywhere else in the region. They would welcome a private enterprise on a reservation that knows only a comparatively anemic government-run health system.

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