DISCONTINUANCE OF OPERATION OF FORT HALL HOSPITAL

Mr. DWORSHAK. Doctor, I notice one of the decreases is $13,570 because of the plan to discontinue operation of the Fort Hall hospital on the Fort Hall Reservation. Why is that being done? Because of the lack of patients or because better service can be obtained on a contractual basis by county and private hospitals?

Dr. SNAVELY. That is being done first of all because of lack of personnel; secondly, because the present hospital is structurally poor; and third, because adequate facilities are available in nearby cities where treatment can be secured for the Indians of Fort Hall Reservation.

Mr. DWORSHAK. There has been effort made to get improved facilities there during the last few years, and I presume that due to the fact there was no improvement made, this is the alternative proposition, that you discontinue it. You are not going to move the hospital facilities and equipment out, are you?

Dr. SNAVELY. The hospital is still there, and is being used as a health center by the field nurse.

Mr. DWORSHAK. You propose to provide comparable service through county and private hospitals so that the Indians will be just as well taken care of on Fort Hall Reservation in the future as they have been in the past?

Dr. SNAVELY. Yes, sir.

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1946.

FIELD NURSES

Mr. JOHNSON of Oklahoma. Dr. Snavely, I believe you are about to discuss the item of field nurses.

Dr. SNAVELY. Yes.

Mr. JOHNSON of Oklahoma. What can you tell us about this item? Dr. SNAVELY. Mr. Chairman, we are asking for six additional field nurses in the grade of SP-6 in the amount of $2,320, making a total of $13,920. These field nurses are required for service on the Navajo Reservation.

The Navajo Reservation has a population of about 52,000 Indians, and at the present time we have only three nurses performing duties which would come in the category of field activities.

Consequently, we believe it is essential that we have additional field nurse personnel for the Navajo Reservation.

EQUIPMENT

Mr. JOHNSON of Oklahoma. What about this equipment item? It seems rather ambitious in the amount of $232,588.

Dr. SNAVELY. The equipment item, Mr. Chairman, is made up of such items as dental units, passenger automobiles, photo fluorographic X-ray units, portable X-ray units, light panel trucks, ambulances, stationary X-ray machines and accessories, and certain other items for hospital use.

During the years of the war, it was not possible to procure many items of equipment required for use in health work for the Indians.

The result is that much of our present equipment is now obsolete or worn out and beyond repair and must be replaced. It is proposed that the amount indicated above will be divided as follows: General health, $144,600; hospitals, $87,988.

The dental units are required at the agencies where full-time dentists are being assigned and where such equipment is not now available. Each such unit will be complete with chair and attachments, electric motor, X-ray cabinets, instruments, and so forth.

Photo-fluorographic X-ray units are required for the four tuberculosis control units included in this estimate.

The portable X-ray unit is required for use in the Odanah subagency clinic of the Great Lakes Agency in Wisconsin. No such equipment is available at the present time to meet the needs in connection with routine physical examinations and medical treatments.

Fixed X-ray equipment is required for use in our hospitals where present equipment of this nature is worn out and unserviceable or dangerous of use for patients and employees.

Ambulances are required for the transportation of very sick and stretcher cases to our hospitals at those units where similar forms of transportation are not now available.

Panel trucks are necessary for transportation of sick and stretcher cases to hospitals at locations where ambulances appear to be impractical. They will also be used for carrying medical supplies and materials to outlying stations.

Passenger automobiles are required for use of doctors and field nurses whose duties require travel over the reservation and to subagency stations in order to carry on with the Indians, a health program.

MISCELLANEOUS

Mr. JOHNSON of Oklahoma. Then you have a miscellaneous item of $68,000.

Dr. SNAVELY. Yes.

Mr. JOHNSON of Oklahoma. A lot of crimes are committed under the term "miscellaneous."

Dr. SNAVELY. I shall give you a detailed break-down of the miscellaneous items.

It is made up, first, of $17,500 for travel and per diem for the new personnel requested in this budget-that is, for the personnel making up the four tuberculosis-control units.

The second item under miscellaneous is for contracts.

The first contract is for $5,000, and will cover medical attention and hospital service for the Indians of the Catawba Reservation in South Carolina.

The second contract is at Pocatello, Idaho, in the amount of $10,000. This amount is asked to supply hospital service and medical attention for the Indians of the Fort Hall Reservation.

The third item is a contract at Lewiston, Idaho, in the amount of $5,000. This is for hospital services for the Indians of the northern Idaho jurisdiction.

The next is a contract for $10,000 at Havre, Mont., to provide hospital services for the Indians of the Rocky Boy's Agency.

In addition to this, there is an item of $20,860 for the Walker River Hospital, which is under the Carson Agency. The Carson Agency