BROWNING, Mont. — A battle broke out on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation two years ago.
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Concerns about the prescribing practices at the Southern Piegan Health Center, a tribally operated clinic, have roiled the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in northwest Montana.
TED McDERMOTT,
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Jennifer St. Goddard, administrator of Southern Piegan Health Center until recently, pushed back on claims that patients had been harmed as a result of SPHC’s practices or “that we were a pill mill.”
TED McDERMOTT,
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Fonda Red Fox, the former director of centralized billing for the Blackfeet Tribal Health System, said she reported her concerns about prescribing practices at Southern Piegan Health Center to federal investigators.
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Dr. Mary DesRosier raised concerns to tribal leaders and federal investigators about what she said was over-prescribing of narcotics for patients at the Southern Piegan Health Center.
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Donald MacCord, Northwest representative for American Molecular Laboratories, was brought in to perform drug testing at Southern Piegan Health Center.
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Jennifer St. Goddard, administrator of Southern Piegan Health Center until recently, unlocks a door at the clinic in Browning, which was undergoing a remodel in April.
TED McDERMOTT,
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Fonda Red Fox, the former director of centralized billing for the Blackfeet Tribal Health System, said she found the amount of opioids being prescribed at Southern Piegan Health Center "kind of scary."
TED McDERMOTT,
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Lyle Rutherford, of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, discusses blueprints for a new wellness center in this 2024 photo. He was involved in pressing for reform at Southern Piegan Health Center later the same year.
BEN ALLAN SMITH, Missoulian
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Jennifer St. Goddard, administrator of Southern Piegan Health Center until recently, said allegations that SPHC was harming people were “unjust,” “unwarranted” and “unsubstantiated.”
TED McDERMOTT,
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kAmz6C: qC69> {6886EE[ 24E:?8 AF3=:4 2772:CD @77:46C 7@C E96 &]$] pEE@C?6J’D ~77:46 :? |@?E2?2[ HC@E6 E92E 96C @77:46 “42??@E 4@?7:C> @C 56?J H96E96C 2?J :?G6DE:82E:@?D :?E@ E9:D 2==6865 4@?5F4E 92G6 366? @C 2C6 36:?8 4@?5F4E65]”k^Am
kAmv6CG2:D ?@E65 E92E E96 EC:36 92D?’E “8@EE6? 2 =6EE6C D2J:?8 W7656C2= 286?EDX 92G6 DE@AA65 E96 :?G6DE:82E:@?]”k^Am
kAm(96? 2D<65 :7 E96 stp :D 4@?E:?F:?8 E@ AFCDF6 :ED :?G6DE:82E:@?[ %F33D D2:5 E92E “H6 5@ ?@E 4@>>6?E @? 24E:G6 :?G6DE:82E:@?D]”k^Am
Ted McDermott has been a reporter and editor at newspapers in Missoula, Butte and Spokane. His reporting has earned numerous journalism awards, including the A-Mark Prize for Investigative Reporting and first place for Coverage of Indigenous Communities by a non-Native reporter from the Indigenous Media Awards.
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