Barrow hospital set to receive funding from AIDS bill

THE SOUNDER STAFF

July 24, 2008 at 11:30AM AKST

New AIDS funding appears headed for approval by Congress and President Bush, and Barrow’s hospital will be a top-priority recipient.

The U.S. Senate recently passed a $50 billion global AIDS bill, already approved by the House of Representatives, that would make Alaska Native organizations eligible for a slice of $290 million in new federal funding.

The funding will meet urgent health, public safety and sanitation infrastructure needs, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

Murkowski, who serves as vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, cosponsored amendments to the five-year AIDS spending bill that would create an emergency fund for Indian safety and health.

“I am pleased that the Senate has proposed a substantial new investment in alleviating the Third World conditions that afflict our American Indian and Alaska Native communities,” Murkowski said.

“We are well on our way to putting the honey bucket in the museum, but we will not reach this goal without continued federal financial support.”

The amendments designate $250 million for the Indian Health Service that could be used to construct Native hospitals and clinics, build water and wastewater infrastructure in Alaska Native villages and make it possible for Alaska Natives to receive health services from community hospitals in Alaska when Native health facilities cannot provide the care.

The construction of new Native hospitals in Barrow and Nome to replace aging and outdated facilities is at the top of the Indian Health Service’s national health facilities priority list.

Alaska ranks at the top of the Indian Health Service sanitation deficiencies list and is the nation’s top recipient of Indian Health Service sanitation facilities construction funds.

Another $30 million would be set aside for Department of Justice grants to tribes and Alaska Native organizations to support tribal courts, domestic violence prosecution and community violence prevention activities.

Ten-million dollars would be allocated for partnerships between Native organizations and state and local law enforcement agencies, such as Alaska’s village public safety officer program.

These funds could also help support state and municipal law enforcement activities on Alaska Native lands.

The legislation, which passed by a vote of 80 to 16, now moves to a Senate-House conference committee where lawmakers will iron out differences before sending it to President Bush, who supports the proposal.

The legislation would replace and expand a $15 billion AIDS plan that Congress passed in 2003.