Navajo Nation rejects new nursing home

GALLUP, N.M. (AP) – The Navajo Nation Council voted against a proposed 120-bed nursing home before ending its fall session.

The Gallup Independent reports that the Navajo Nation Sihasin fund appropriated $8 million for the planning and construction of a new Chinle Nursing Home to care for Navajo elders on the reservation. The plan, however, needed at least 16 yes votes from the council to be approved.

It failed with a vote of 14-6 after a long debate.

The current Chinle Nursing home was built in 1968 and does not meet Medicare/Medicaid Services federal requirements and is fined annually for lack of compliance. The problems with the 79-bed facility result in many Navajo elders staying at off-reservation nursing homes.

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Information from: Gallup Independent, http://www.gallupindependent.com