MHA Nation asks state for hospital, addiction-treatment support, water protections and joint law-enforcement protocols

Chairmen and members of the Legislative Tribal‑State Relations Committee met with leaders of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation at Fort Berthold, where tribal officials outlined a portfolio of public‑health, infrastructure and natural‑resource needs and asked for clearer state‑tribal cooperation.

The MHA Nation’s chairman described a long history of land loss and federal policies that reduced the tribe’s historic territory and argued the tribe needs state support to expand local hospital and emergency services, broaden addiction treatment and coordinate law enforcement and emergency response across jurisdictional lines.

The request centers on immediate health‑care gaps. Councilwoman Monica Mayer, a physician and member of the MHA council, said the reservation lacks a hospital and emergency room despite serving a population with “a life expectancy on this reservation for a man or a female [of] the average is 52 years of age,” and called that “20 years behind” national averages. She said the tribe is investing in a medical campus and wants to develop a hospital and nursing facility to serve tribal and nontribal residents and oil‑field workers who now must travel long distances for emergency care.

Chairman Fox framed addiction treatment as an urgent, costly public‑health and public‑safety issue. “Pay now or pay…