Indian Health Service sees layoffs rescinded

While the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been cutting government employees, a cut to Native American health services was quickly sewn back up with stitches.

The Indian Health Service has seen layoffs amid the Trump Administration’s layoffs of many federal employees, according to reporting from Native News Online. The layoffs on Feb. 14, which involved 1,000 IHS employees within their probationary period, was rescinded by later that evening.

In a statement emailed to The Lawton Constitution, Secretary of the HHS Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated:

“The Indian Health Service has always been treated as the redheaded stepchild at HHS. My father often complained that IHS was chronically understaffed and underfunded. President Trump wants me to rectify this sad history. Indians suffer the highest level of chronic disease of any demographic. IHS will be a priority over the next four years. President Trump wants me to end the chronic disease epidemic beginning in Indian country.” 

The Constitution attempted to speak with the Lawton Indian Hospital. No officials within the hospital were willing or able to comment regarding potential layoffs.

The Lawton Indian Hospital, along with other Indian hospitals and clinics around the nation, provides healthcare to Native Americans around the country.

According to the Lawton Indian Hospital website:

“The Lawton Indian Hospital is modern facility with 26 beds and a staff over 30 full time credentialed providers. The facility offers inpatient care including general surgery, gynecology, internal medicine, and pediatrics, as well as a full suite of outpatient services in medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, radiology, laboratory, nursing, optometry, podiatry, and audiology to name a few. There is also a large number of public health nursing staff, health educators, social workers, and environmental health specialists. The hospital provides approximately 800 admissions and over 185,000 outpatient visits per year. Our mission is to raise the physical, mental, social and spiritual health of American Indians and Alaska natives (AI/AN) to the highest level possible.”