OPINION: Claremore Indian Hospital Must Remain a Hospital, Not a Political Trophy

OPINION: Claremore Indian Hospital Must Remain a Hospital, Not a Political Trophy
By Cara Cowan Watts, PhD

In a recent column, a former Cherokee Nation Tribal Councilor called the upcoming October 1 transfer of Claremore Indian Hospital from Indian Health Service to Cherokee Nation control a “generational opportunity.” For most Cherokee families across northeastern Oklahoma, that statement could not be further from the truth.

Let’s be honest. This transition is not about expanding services or improving care. It is about removing critical care from a region that serves more than 128,000 active patients as of the end of 2024. In March 2025 alone, Claremore Indian Hospital recorded more than 18,000 ambulatory events and filled nearly 30,000 prescriptions. These are not just numbers. These are lives.

Despite these high-volume demands, the Cherokee Nation has decided to strip Claremore Indian Hospital of its inpatient beds, surgery, and obstetrics services. What they propose in its place is not a hospital but a clinic with a stand-alone emergency room. This isn’t a transformation—it is a downgrade. Our people know the difference.  

I have advocated for the Cherokee Nation to take over the hospital for years. The goal was always to improve it, not to dismantle it. We were promised more care, not less. Now we are being told to accept a future with fewer services and longer drive times, especially for mothers in labor and elders in medical distress. That is unacceptable.

The comparison to Tahlequah’s transition is often repeated, but it falls short. Hastings didn’t close down before the new facility opened. Patients weren’t left without critical services. And Cherokee citizens in Rogers, Tulsa, Washington, Nowata, Craig, and Mayes Counties weren’t treated as second-class tribal members. What we’re seeing now is a dangerous precedent: cherry-picking which communities get complete care and which get the scraps.  

The complete lack of public input is more telling than the loss of services. Not one Tribal Councilor, nor the Chief or Deputy Chief, has held a single public town hall or community meeting about the hospital takeover in our area. It’s as if they fear facing the people they claim to serve. Transparency should not be feared. It should be embraced. The silence speaks volumes about who is truly hiding and why.

The difference between the Hastings takeover and Claremore is that Tahlequah did not lose services. Claremore is losing services before anything new is even built.  The promised $255 million facility is still years away, assuming it gets built at all.

The loss of Claremore Indian Hospital creates a maternity desert during a time of declining fertility rates, increased maternal mortality rates, and losses of rural health infrastructure already impacting our precious Cherokee families.  In 2025, we should fight to strengthen our families, not further weaken them.

Name-calling a Cherokee woman who has spent decades serving her community, just because she questions the narrative, shows a complete lack of leadership. If “despicable” means standing up for my people and telling the truth, then I will wear it proudly.

It’s time for the Cherokee People to reject the politics of fear, silence, and sugarcoated press releases. Our citizens deserve real solutions, not flashy media events and pitiful handouts that ignore the deeper issues facing Cherokee families. The era of good ole boy politics is over. We need leadership that tells the truth, listens to the people, and is not afraid of reality.

If the Cherokee Nation cannot operate Claremore Indian Health Service (CIHS) Hospital as a full-service hospital, it should return it to the federal government. At the very least, it should have the courage to ask the people first.

Let’s be clear: CIHS does not belong solely to the Cherokee Nation. It has historically served 17 Tribal Nations, and any decision about its future should reflect that shared responsibility. If the Cherokee Nation cannot afford to keep it operating as a full-service hospital, it should return CIHS to the federal government rather than gut it.  

Our community deserves answers. It deserves a real hospital. And it deserves leadership that shows up.

Cara Cowan Watts, PhD

Former Tribal Councilor, Cherokee Nation (2003–2015)

Deputy Speaker of the Cherokee Tribal Council (2007–2011) 

Acting Speaker of the Tribal Council (2011)

Chair, Claremore Indian Hospital Tribal Advisory Board (2007–2012)

Member, Claremore Indian Hospital Tribal Advisory Board (2004–2012)
Award-winning Native policy advocate and community leader