CUT BANK, Mont. — Dr. Mary DesRosier’s whole life has been built on “medicine, Blackfeet, helping and healing.”
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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.
TED McDERMOTT,
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A map of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation located in northwestern Montana.
ANNE CRUIKSHANK
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Some believe a tribal clinic with a pain-management program was fueling harm by flooding the Blackfeet Nation with opioids. Supporters saw it as a haven for suffering patients.
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Dr. Mary DesRosier, a longtime Blackfeet physician, said she reported her concerns about Southern Piegan Health Center's practices to federal and tribal officials.
TED McDERMOTT,
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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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Dr. Mary DesRosier, a longtime Blackfeet physician, said she reported her concerns about Southern Piegan Health Center's practices to federal and tribal officials.
TED McDERMOTT,
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Bison from the Blackfeet Buffalo Program graze on their winter range along the Two Medicine River. The tribe has about 700 bison in the herd, and this year they harvested about 20 to distribute across the community.
THOM BRIDGE, Independent Record
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kAmq642FD6 96C 56A2CEFC6 @44FCC65 23CFAE=J 2?5 D96 “925 2 3F?49 @7 DEF77 E92E DE:== ?66565 E@ 36 4@>A=6E65[” s6D#@D:6C H6?E :?E@ 96C @77:46 E@ E:6 FA =@@D6 6?5D E92E D96 76=E D96 “?66565 E@ 7:?:D9]”k^Am
kAmpD D96 H2D H@C<:?8[ D96 D2:5[ “D64FC:EJ D9@H65 FA 2?5 6D4@CE65 >6 @FE @7 E96 3F:=5:?8]” $96 H2D?’E 6G6? 23=6 E@ 4@==64E 96C 46CE:7:42E6D 2?5 5:A=@>2D 2?5 @E96C >6>6?E@D] xE H2D 2 56G2DE2E:?8 6?5 E@ 2 E9C66\564256 42C66C D6CG:?8 96C EC:36[ 2?5 :E D6?E 96C E@ “2 C62= 52C< A=246[” D96 D2:5]k^Am
kAm“$@ ?@H H92E 2> x 8@:?8 E@ 5@ H:E9 >J =:76n”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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