CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. — While the pandemic was in the full swing, ravaging New Mexico and Cibola County, the federal Indian Health Service announced plans to shift services and responsibilities at the Acoma-Canoncito-Laguna Service Unit in Acoma, N.M. The announcement came after the Pueblo of Laguna, upset with the standard of care provided to their residents, withdrew their funding to the hospital in favor of opening a new clinic. This proposal to withdraw funding prompted confusion among the people this hospital serves, with fear that it might close.
To accommodate the change in funding, IHS slashed all inpatient services, women’s services, and the emergency room at ACL. The Service Unit’s staff was slashed, and the operating hours were cut. Currently the facility is running emergency services seven days a week with 24 service for IHS beneficiaries.
The IHS claimed it was not responsible for the reduced capacity of ACL, but that it wants to find a path forward to continue offering services to the tribes in Cibola County.
The IHS announced on March 1 that it has officially transferred power to the Laguna Healthcare Corporation, Pueblo of Laguna, to manage the Laguna Community Health Center. This transfer falls under Title I of the federal Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act.
Both the Pueblo of Laguna and Pueblo of Acoma say they were blindsided by the move by IHS. U.S. Representative Debra Haaland, a native of Laguna, vowed to investigate the IHS reduction in responsibilities at ACL. Federal law states that before any IHS facility closes Congress must be notified. However, the federal agency claimed that it did not inform Congress about their plans for ACL because there was just a reduction in service, not a plan to close.
Acoma Governor Brian Vallo was upset with the change.
“The ACL hospital is turning away patients and telling them to sit in their cars and call the local [emergency medical services] to transport them to Albuquerque if they can’t drive themselves,” said Governor Vallo in a recent interview.
The IHS press team in Albuquerque, New Mexico, responded and said that this is not IHS policy and that patients should not be told to stay in their cars.
“The IHS respects tribal sovereignty and [it is] committed to tribal self-governance and self-determination. The IHS recognizes that tribal leaders and members are in the best position to understand the healthcare needs and priorities of their communities,” the federal agency declared in a press release.
Rep. Haaland is currently undergoing hearings in Congress to become the next, and first Native American to serve as the United States Secretary of the Interior. The Interior Department manages agencies like the IHS.
ACL almost closed?
With the fears surrounding ACL, the Pueblo of Acoma sued the IHS and the US Department of Health and Human Services in a Federal Court in Washington D.C. at the end of February to stop any significant changes to the ACL Service Unit that could be detrimental to public health.
According to court records, on Feb. 1 Judge Beryl A. Howel for the US District Court in the District of Columbia, issued a restraining order which ordered IHS to keep ACL Service Unit open, with no changes to the restructuring of the hospital until Feb. 28, when the restraining order was set to lose its power. The order has since been extended to March 19.
Judge Howel’s order reads, “Defendants are temporarily prohibited from closing the Acoma-Canoncito-Laguna Hospital or reducing the facility’s current services pending the expiration of this temporary restraining order or further order of this Court.”
There were never plans to close the ACL Service Unit, just reduce the services and programs that it offers. Therefore, according to IHS, they did not notify the US Congress about changes to the hospital.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has also weighed in on the issues at ACL, writing a letter to US President Joe Biden asking for him to intervene.