About a dozen protesters rallied against the looming closure of the Indian Health Service’s Tucson Area Office, Monday. The small group gathered near the facility on the San Xavier Indian Reservation.
The protest follows tribal leaders and Arizona lawmakers demanding that the federal agency reverse its decision to close its Tucson facility – a decision that would force about 28,000 patients to travel more than 100 miles to the Phoenix Indian Health Center to access services elsewhere.
KJZZ reported that no staff positions would be eliminated, according to the agency.
Protest organizer Blase Henry said he planned the protest after elected officials sent a letter to the agency, requesting a more thorough consultation with the tribal nations in Southern Arizona.
“The Tohono O’odham Nation and the Pascua Yaqui tribes go here for their health and they’re going to be forced to move or travel 100 miles to the facility in Phoenix and that’s just very inconvenient and that would really danger a lot of natives in that way,” Henry said.
The letter sent on June 1, and signed by Senators Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly, and Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva, underscored concerns raised by the Tohono O’odham Nation in February.
“It remains unclear how the Tucson Area Office, the only office that would be consolidated through this initiative, was selected for consolidation and whether the repercussions of this decision have been fully considered,” the letter said.
In that same letter, the lawmakers submitted questions to the agency, asking for an explanation of the decision-making process behind the selection of the Tucson Area Office and how it formally engaged with the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and Tohono O’odham Nation.
The Tucson Office is the only one of twelve offices nationwide selected for closure, after the federal agency announced plans to restructure last year.
Monday’s protest ended about an hour early, after tribal police arrived and told organizers that they needed prior authorization from the tribal government to gather on tribal land.
