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• NCAI President Jefferson Keel says the decision is an important step for Indian Country. According to the organization, American Indians and Alaska Natives have disproportionately high rates of health problems, including heart disease, diabetes and substance abuse.
• The Indian Health Care Improvement Act authorizes new and expanded efforts to improve the health of indigenous people, including programs addressing health professional shortages, dialysis services, urban Indian health, Indian veterans and behavioral health.
• The health care improvement act was last reauthorized in 2000.
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Lakota speakers looking to start immersion daycare
KRISTI EATON,Associated Press
• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Tama I'atala doesn't want his children to feel as disconnected from their Lakota heritage as he does from his Samoan culture.
• I'atala, who is part Lakota and lives on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, has a solution: Have his children, including his 17-month-old son, learn the language.
• "I don't want my kids to grow up without that sense of pride of who they are," said I'atala, 36.
• I'atala is part of a small group of people on the reservation trying to start a Lakota language-immersion daycare for infants in hopes of increasing the number of people fluent in the language and, ultimately, strengthening the Lakota culture.
• There are fewer than 6,000 Lakota speakers -- less than 14 percent of the Lakota population in North and South Dakota, and the average age of a Lakota speaker is 60.
• Several other efforts are under way to preserve the Lakota language, but the daycare is unique because the children would be taught Lakota as the primary lan (Continued on page 17)
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