A nursing home designed to serve Native Americans in the Nebraska border town of Whiteclay will not open for at least another year because of a funding delay.
The proposed 60-bed facility near South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation was supposed to open last month. But financial consultant Gary Ruse of Gordon says the Oglala Sioux Tribe wasn't able to secure the money it needed right away. The tribe has since received a loan from the Shakopee Tribe in Minnesota, and Ruse says construction has now begun.
Nebraska Sen. LeRoy Louden says the facility is opening in Nebraska because South Dakota officials insisted they had enough beds to serve the population. But Louden says the South Dakota facilities are located more than 100 miles from the isolated reservation.
