Since 2021, the Emergency Medicine Global Health Division at Mount Sinai has partnered with the Indian Health Service to provide physician and physician assistant staffing, operational assistance, and educational support at the Cheyenne River Health Center in Eagle Butte, South Dakota.
This remote, critical access hospital comprises an emergency department, a 10-bed inpatient unit, and community outpatient center. The Emergency Department serves about 30 patients daily from the local population on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation.
“The partnership has evolved from a few intermittent weeks of staffing to the point where we now expect to provide nearly 28 weeks of full-time attending physician staffing this year,” says John Rozehnal, MD, MS, Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine, who leads the partnership with Indian Health Services.
John Rozehnal, MD, MS
Mount Sinai Emergency Medicine physicians and other health care providers who participate are given the opportunity to manage a wide range of emergency medical concerns and provide comprehensive critical intervention while developing knowledge of the indigenous culture to enhance their care. Other health care providers include physician assistants and residents, including four Emergency Medicine 2024 graduating residents who supported the partnership.
Recently, the team was successful in assisting with the implementation of a new point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) equipment and programming, including training that has begun with an education project on the placement of ultrasound-guided IV lines, the performance of regional anesthesia, and the use of bedside diagnostic studies helping to assess pregnancies. Without these new services, patients would often require transfer to a hospital more than an hour away.
The growing partnership between Mount Sinai and Indian Health Services includes a variety of quality improvement projects, such as implementing clinical protocols and improving cultural competencies and quality and safety initiatives.
“We look to further integration with the local team at Eagle Butte and to help develop area-wide initiatives to further both teach and learn from the facilities and patients in the Great Plain Area,” says Dr. Rozehnal.