Conference discusses lack of Indigenous healthcare access

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Ideally, people always monitor their health. But for some communities, it can be harder to access health care.

The Holiday Inn in downtown Rapid City hosted the South Dakota State Medical Association’s 2024 Annual Leadership Conference Friday, May 31.

The challenges for Indigenous communities accessing health care throughout South Dakota were the topic for this year’s South Dakota State Medical Association conference.

“Cancer disparities which involve cancer treatment, access to screening tests such as low-dose cancer. CT for lung cancer screenings, also for colonoscopies, cervical cancer screening, these are hard to access on the reservations,” President of SDSMA Denise Hanisch said.

The conference included lectures from medical professionals throughout the state and country who spoke on the imbalance of health care in Native communities.

“It’s a multifactorial problem. I mean we have economic impacts, the social determinants of health, transportation challenges, if they can even get to the doctor’s office. But there’s a workforce problem in America that is magnified in rural areas and on the reservations. Physicians aren’t practicing in those areas,” President-Elect of the American Medical Association Bruce Scott said.

“Being a physician or being a medical provider in a rural area is a difficult job. There are not a lot of support systems available. There are difficult problems you have to deal with in the community,” Hanisch said.

Hanisch explained that other factors that could be contributing to healthcare disparities in Indigenous communities are a lack of education and food insecurity.

“The life expectancy for 50% of Native Americans on the reservation is age 58. Off the reservation, in the state of South Dakota, so just several miles off the reservation, life expectancy is well into the 80s and much closer to the national average,” Hanisch continued.

The conference also included talks on a disease that has had an impact on Native communities and other populations throughout the U.S.

“Regarding syphilis, we’ve been seeing an uptick since 2021. Disproportionately though more so in our Native American population. They certainly have suffered with this more than the white population has,” Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Health Melisssa Magstadt said.

At the end of the day, the priority is seeking solutions to improve access to health care.

“The Great Plains Tribal Health Leadership Board that I spoke of earlier, they have a program with community health workers that are going into the communities. And they’re having very good success with that,” Hanisch concluded.

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