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The Past
In 1987, the Coeur d' Alene Tribe began to search for ways to improve the health
care services at their small Indian Health Service (IHS) satellite clinic. It was
located at the Tribal Headquarters, several miles from the City of Plummer, Idaho.
Many tribal members were dissatisfied with 15 years of fragmented care delivered in
a semi-condemned building and with poor continuity of care. Due to the non-payment
of medical bills by the IHS, tribal members were often turned over to collection agencies.
Their plight became intolerable to the point that the only feasible solution was to develop
their own health care delivery system. Access to affordable health care services for
non-Indian residents on the local region were very similar to those of the Tribal community.
Distance to the closest health care service was between a 45 minutes and 2-hour drive over
dangerous curved roads, particularly during the winter months. None of the ambulatory care
facilities in the four surrounding counties of the Northern Idaho town were providing services
to the medically underserved on a sliding fee basis.
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