Red Berry Clinic Opens in Lawton
Red Berry opened its doors on Friday, April 17, at 6403 W. Gore Blvd. in Lawton, Oklahoma.
The clinic specializes in pediatric care but will eventually expand its services.
Comanche Nation Chairman Forrest Tahdooahnippah, Comanche Business Committee, Tribal Administrator Lisa Dawsey and Lawton Chamber of Commerce cut the ribbon to the new clinic.
“A lot of work went into this but I have to say I'm very grateful for the Indian Health Service, and I'm really grateful for our consultants because they really made it a lot easier on all of us but you know we had to make a plan to make this happen, and we had to make a plan carefully,” Tahdooahnippah said. “Because we really didn't want to upset the funding for the Lawton Service Unit, because we didn't want to have the Lawton Indian Hospital have to make any sort of cuts. So, to make that happen, we met, and by we I mean IHS, myself, and our consultants. We met on a pretty much weekly basis for the better part of three to four months just to create the plan, go over the funding, you know, check everything twice and then we had almost full day negotiation for our annual funding agreement. And then we had a couple partial-day negotiations for our pre-award and start-up costs, and we ended up, as I mentioned before in the program, getting like six and a half to seven million dollars from IHS to make this happen. So, a lot like I said a lot went into it, but I'm really grateful because all of the different parties they made it easy; they were all very easy to work with and just made it easy to have it all happen.”
He’s excited to see better health outcomes for Comanche people.
“We want to have healthy people. There is no amount of money that can replace good health. Good health is what is just the most fundamental thing,” Tahdooahnippah said. “You know, when you pray for people, you pray for their good health and for their happiness above all else, and so that's what I want for Comanche people. That's what I want for their families. So, the thing I'm looking forward to the most is just seeing our people get healthier and be healthier.”
Comanche Indian Veterans Association raised the flags, and Comanche Nation Princess Arlene Schonchin and Jr. Princess Clara Yazzie signed the Lord’s Prayer.
Lawton Mayor Stan Booker, Indian Health Services and community members were at the ribbon cutting.
