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Harrah's donates $1 million to health care for Cherokee youthBy Rose Hooper |
Phil Satre (R) chairman and chief executive officer of Harrah's Entertainment in Las Vegas, presented a $1 million check to Cherokee Principal Chief Leon Jones during a ceremony Tuesday at the casino. The money will be used to establish a health care endowment fund for Cherokee youth. |
"This is one of those days you wake up and say, 'Isn't life great,'" Jerry Egelus, manager of Harrah's Cherokee Casino, said Tuesday during a press conference.
The conference was called for Harrah's corporate headquarters to announce a $1 million donation to the tribe. The money, representing one of the largest single private donations to health care in Western North Carolina, will establish a health care endowment fund for Cherokee youth. Diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions on the reservation, according to Jodi Adams, director of operations of the tribe's health and medical division. The number of patients diagnosed with the disease has increased 128 percent from 1989 to 1997. Nineteen Cherokee youth under the age of 20 have been diagnosed with adult-onset diabetes, an increase of more than 500 percent in this age group since 1990. |
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"This epidemic is a predictor for the future health status," Adams said. The cost to treat diabetes is estimated at $10,000 per patient, per year, she continued, yet the annual funding per person through Indian Health Services is only $1,100.
Of the 12,000 Cherokee on the reservation, more than one-tenth, or 1,300 of them, have diabetes. "In short," Adams said, "we have almost twice the national incidence of diabetes and receive less than one-third in health care funds. We must turn this epidemic around." "We can't stand still in the face of this news," Egelus said. "That's why Harrah's has come forward." Phil Satre, chairman and chief executive officer of Harrah's Entertainment, presented the $1 million check to Cherokee Principal Chief Leon Jones at the Tuesday ceremony. "We are pleased to be a part of the solution. The Cherokee tribe has been an important partner," Satre noted. "We hope this donation begins to heighten awareness of the need for adequate health care funding for Cherokee children." Satre emphasized that the $1 million came from corporate headquarters now located in Las Vegas. In receiving the donation, Chief Jones said, "We thank you for this significant donation. Our health issues are massive, and our youth are the future. We must create change, and we must do it now. Our children will benefit for many years to come." Adams agreed, adding, "What we do now will affect the future of our children." |
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