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- By Native News Online Staff
The Office for Indian Veterans Support will be led by Captain Carmen “Skip” Clelland, a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, the IHS announced last week.
Clelland will guide efforts that support Native veterans’ health and well-being, serve as the primary liaison among IHS, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Tribes, Tribal organizations, and Urban Indian Organizations, and ensure that Native veterans’ needs are represented across federal systems.
"Already in her position at the Veterans Administration is Dr. Christie Prairie Chicken as Director of the Office of Tribal Health," Dean Dauphinais, executive director of the National American Indians Veterans, said to Native News Online. "Now, the IHS has Capt. Carmen Clelland as IHS’ Director of Office for Indian Veteran Support. This is good news as a lot of the headache with Native veterans getting services and accessing programs comes from being weighted down by too much bureaucracy. Ideally these new changes will result in better service delivery, more education on VA and IHS benefits and services and an overall enhanced experience for our veterans seeking care from them."
Native Americans serve in the military at the highest rates of any demographic in the United States, serving at five times the national average. There are an estimated 140,000 Native veterans, 74% of whom utilize VA healthcare services.
Native veterans face significant health disparities and are twice as likely to be uninsured as their non-Native counterparts. As well, they experience higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive disorder than white veterans.
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