Indigenous Health
Indian Health Board of Minneapolis: a 50 Year Vision for the Future
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resh out of Family Practice residency at the Hennepin County Medical Center in 1997, Dr. Patrick Rock (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Tribal member) was hired by the Indian Health Board of Minneapolis (IHB). Dr. Rock became IHB’s first Native American staff physician. Over the years, IHB came to rely on Dr. Rock’s gift of seeing the big picture and he eventually accepted the role of medical director, then later became CEO. Now, after 25 years of service, a different leader might be tempted to take a breather or rest on the tremendous accomplishments of IHB, but not Dr. Rock. This small Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) has grown to include medical, dental, and counseling clinics, a psychology training program, chemical dependency and medication-assisted therapy programs as well as numerous culturally-integrated health and wellness grant programs, and an innovative COVID team. No time to rest, Dr. Rock finds himself looking to the future and drawing on his inner resolve to carry forth a community vision for the next 50 years. Despite these uncertain times, IHB is in steady hands. The FQHC has expanded services and is poised to open a new campus on east Franklin Avenue, in the heart of Minneapolis’ American Indian cultural corridor. Getting IHB to this point necessitated staying power of key leadership, and skills one does not learn in medical school such as smart land investment decisions, political representation at the state level, and a By Angela Erdrich, MD
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Spring 2022
keen understanding of Urban Indian Programs nationally. Dr. Rock might argue that IHB came this far by remaining true to the history and mission of IHB’s founding and the centered approach of a nine member community board of directors. In 2021, IHB celebrated its 50-year anniversary as the first urban American Indian clinic funded by Congress. As IHB grew, so did the community of Native organizations and initiatives in the Twin Cities, but such growth was not always the case. In fact the clinic began as a direct community response to the death of a young Native American woman, Gloria. She had come to Minneapolis from a reservation in Minnesota seeking a better life. Instead, in the city, Gloria faced discrimination, poverty, and premature death due to hepatitis when she was unable to access hospitalization in Minneapolis. Native people organized
in grassroots fashion and founded IHB in response to her tragic story, which was detailed by Bill Moyers Journal in an episode entitled: “Why Did Gloria Die?” The Indian Health Board of Minneapolis is a place of tremendous history. Just as a Native person might introduce themselves with tribal affiliation and where their family comes from, IHB’s origin makes better sense in context of the Phillips neighborhood and Federal Indian Policy. Phillips in Minneapolis is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the US. While immigrant communities have historically found Phillips a launching pad to success, Native people claim Phillips as an own urban homeland. This is due in large part to Little Earth of United Tribes public housing, the only tribally-owned public housing in the country, and other nearby Native-focused housing, community meeting places, galleries, cultural centers, and businesses. Phillips retains its Native American identity despite bouts of gentrification nearby and demographic fluctuations. In the nineteenth century, Native people were forcefully removed from Minneapolis and returned cautiously over the span of nearly a hundred years prior to the founding of IHB in the late twentieth century. The Indian Removal Act of 1863 forcibly drove Dakota people out of their homeland including the resource-rich Minneapolis area. Dakota people were exiled to reservations on leftover land in the west. At this time, Phillips was being developed due to its proximity to rail yards. While western
MetroDoctors
The Journal of the Twin Cities Medical Society
