TAHLEQUAH — As an answer to overcrowding and inadequate services at W.W. Hastings Indian Hospital, the Cherokee Nation plans to develop 45 acres for health care facilities.

The land is adjacent to and southeast of W.W. Hastings Indian Hospital, currently operated by Indian Health Service. The nation is also considering assumption of the hospital as part of their long-term vision for health care in the area.

Earlena McKee, with the Northeastern State University College of Optometry and chief of Pheiffer Optical Clinic at Hastings, said she was looking forward to the changes that will come.

“This is a great opportunity for the nation as well as the city to increase our quality and volume of care. Space is an issue now in the hospital. There are a lot of services we refer out of town that we might be able to offer at this facility. I think it’ll be a big step. The Cherokee Nation has made a lot of strides with rural clinics and have proven that they will follow through.”

Plans begin in 2007 for the new complex include separating the outpatient clinic from the inpatient hospital, providing a new outpatient surgery center, a new facility for doctors’ offices, a new medical support building and a new center for future expansion such as educational and health promotion programs.

The site plan also features a walking trail and a “culturally significant central park.”

Chad Smith, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, said there is no way to predict how well the new health care complex will handle the volume of those seeking medical services.

“Health care is extremely elastic,” he said. “When the economy changes and people lose their jobs, they turn to public health care like our clinics. I think we have a disparity between the demand for health care and the supply. It will be decades before we have equilibrium between the demand for health care and the supply.”

Smith explained much of the ongoing success of the nation’s health care plans depend on the quality of leadership.

“It’s a very simple proposition that people here have a passion for the job and especially for the mission,” he said. “Melissa Gower (group leader for Cherokee Nation Health Services), the people at Hastings, and others all understand how important this is. They see the human drama involved in all those families who come to us and to Hastings for health care.”

Gower said she felt very strongly about the complex and its value to Cherokee, other Native Americans, and the wider community.

“It almost makes you a little emotional,” she said.

The Cherokee Nation’s site master planning document said it has the opportunity to create the best health care complex in northeastern Oklahoma if it assumes operations of Hastings.

It also listed problems at Hastings, including:

• In 2007, a Cherokee Nation study and Indian Health Service study both showed the space needed at Hastings was approximately 330,000 square feet. The patient load for 2007 was at 244,000 visits per year. Even with the patient load at more than four times the amount when the facility was built, there is not federal plan to expand space.

• In June 2008, 3,923 women were on a waiting list to receive preventative health services and exams. However, there is no federal plan in place to expand space for these services and routine exams.

Brian Woodliff, chief executive officer of Tahlequah City Hospital said at a Monday morning press conference at Hastings that he fully endorses the proposed complex.

“We want to bring as much comprehensive health care to Tahlequah as we can, and this will do that,” he said.

Tahlequah Mayor Ken Purdy, also spoke at the conference.

“The value of the health care industry in the community cannot be overstated,” he said. “I think this will become one of the finest health care facilities.”