Tribal chairs tell RFK Jr. they need federal resources to improve their own healthcare

Native American communities experience some of the highest disparities in healthcare in the country. Tribal chairs are hoping to work with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who visited North Dakota Thursday, to remedy that. A major theme of the tribal chairs’ comments Thursday was the need for the federal government to provide the necessary resources to support local tribal solutions, not to impose solutions crafted in Washington, D.C. “We have survived generations of policies that attempted to diminish our identity, diminish our lands, and take our sovereignty,” said Lonna Street, chair of the Spirit Lake Nation. “We are not simply asking for the healthcare funding. We are advocating for the health and the dignity and the safety of the future of our Native nations.” Soil health key to improving human health, RFK Jr.

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