Burns Paiute Tribe
Burns Paiute Tribe
Wadatika Health Center
HC-71, 100 PaSiGo Street
Burns, OR 97220
Phone: 541-573-7312
Webpage: www.harneycounty.com/1Paiute.htm
About the Clinic
Facilities/Services Planning
MISSION
To promote and facilitate engineering planning and construction support for the IHS national facilities program by developing and enhancing relationships among Tribes, area offices, and Service Unit engineers and related professionals dealing in building health care systems.
Attainment of the IHS and DHHS missions
The DFPC mission is achieved by:
* Maintaining a priority list based on relative need.
* Supporting tribes when they choose to assume facilities-related responsibilities.
* Planning health care and associated facilities to minimize facility life-cycle costs.
* Planning, promoting, & constructing improvements to exist. Facilities where they are not optimally functional.
* Planning & constructing new facilities when existing facilities do not exist or cannot be effectively improved.
* Developing state-of-the-art facilities with efficient and effective facilities planning.
* Targeting the unmet need with limited resources for maximum effectiveness.
DFPC Vision
To be a Global Health Care Facilities Engineering Division leading cutting edge professionalism in support of Public Health advances and development of solutions to the Indian Health Service challenges.
Location
The Wadatika Health Center was constructed and completed on August 13, 1996. It is located on the Burns Paiute Reservation. It is constructed of wood and is 4,307 square feet. The design of the building allows for six offices, waiting room area, reception area, three examination rooms, nurse’s station, one medication room, two linen rooms, one janitor room, two sets of restrooms, one exercise room, one large file room, staff lounge, one room for reference materials, and one computer/general storage room. The Center is designed to accommodate expansion when necessary. The Burns Paiute Tribe is a PL 93-638 Title I Contractor. Hence, they must contract for primary care providers. Tribal Health Services has contracts with local medical and dental providers: 3 general physicians, 1 surgeon, 3 family nurse practitioners, 3 dentists, and 2 physical therapists. Those needing a medical specialist are referred to Bend, Oregon--135 miles away. Emergency ambulance services provided by the City of Burns, with Air Life for air medical transport. They also contract with the county mental health office and two other professionals for mental health services. The Tribal Council has designated the Tribal Health Services as the lead tribal program for health care, social services, and education services. Under the structure of Tribal Health Services comes: Health Management, Community Health Nursing, Community Health Representatives, IHS Alcohol, Mental Health, Contract Health Services, State Alcohol Prevention Program, Breast & Cervical Cancer Project, Domestic 
Water System, and Community Nutrition and Commodity Foods Distribution Programs. Coordination is provided for a variety of health promotion activities, wellness clinics, women’s clinics, well child clinics, men’s clinics, commodity dinners, Women, Infants and Children (WIC) activities, and a small elders activities program. Tribal Social Services is supervised by the Tribal Health Director, in turn Social Services supervises the Indian Child Welfare Act, Family Preservation Project, plus the Education Programs such as the Johnson O’Malley, Adult Education, Higher Education, Youth Opportunity, Employment Assistance, and the Child Care Development Block Grant Services.
About the Tribe
History
The Northern Paiutes were made up of small peaceful bands who roamed extensively in central eastern Oregon. The Wadatika were root gatherers and hunters. They lived on a coarse diet of seeds, bulbs, plant fibers, berries, roots, and wild animals. They had leaders but they didn’t have a formalized governmental structure or permanent chiefs. The Reservation covers 930 acres of trust land, and 320 acres of fee-patent land. Another 11,000 plus acres of allotted lands is held in trust for individual Indians. The Burns Paiute Reservation was formally recognized on October 13, 1973. In 1988, a newly revised Constitution and By-Laws was adopted by the general membership, and approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Geography
City: Burns, population 2,890. County: Harney, population 7,050. 10,228 square miles. Per capita income (1994) $17,456. County’s true cash value averages out at about $35 an acre. Rainfall 10.2 inches. Average temperature 27.5 - 69.4 degrees. Principal industries: forestry, manufacturing, and livestock. Unemployment rate for 1996 was 12.3%.
Other Information
Members
There are 286 enrolled Tribal members, less than 37% reside permanently on the Reservation.
Other Offices and Programs
The Burns Paiute Tribe has the following other offices: Law Enforcement and Tribal Court Services; Tribal Administration; Natural Resources-- Environmental Issues, Lease Compliance/HIP, Fisheries, and Cultural Preservation and Enhancement; Education Services; Organization for Forgotten Americans (OFA)--JTPA Program, and the Burns Paiute Tribal Housing Authority. Indian Gaming has high priority for economic development.
Employees
There are 33 FTE’s and one part-time employee.
Housing
The availability of housing for primary care providers in the Burns & Hines Area is good depending on what a provider wants. The Wadatika Health Center is located 2 miles from the Burns town center. There is no housing for providers on the Burns Paiute Reservation.
