Program aims to continue help for disabled Osages and Osages in financial crisis
Financial Assistance Program announces successful delivery of disability assistance and continued support for Osages in crisis
Pawhuska, Okla. (July 22, 2016) Cherokee Cheshewalla, Financial Assistance Case Manager, provides valuable constituent service by assisting applicants to apply for and receive the help they need.
PAWHUSKA, Okla. (July 28, 2016) – This summer, fifty disabled Osage citizens received support from the Osage Nation for purchases and services to help with their individual needs. The Osage Nation Financial Assistance Department (ONFAD), the department that administrates several income eligible supportive services, reported those individuals were also served in record time. ONFAD also provides immediate help for eligible Osages who are experiencing life threatening and extreme financial crisis. The department was pleased to announce they look forward to continuing to provide both of these valuable services for another year beginning Oct. 1.
Disability Assistance is available to all eligible Osage citizens, “with a physical or mental impairment,” said Cherokee Cheshewalla, ONFAD Case Manager.
Cheshewalla shared the numbers for the Osage people who were served by the new supportive service for disabled Osages.
A total of 50 Osages received Disability Assistance in just seventeen working days.
- Four constituents ages one to 21
- 20 constituents ages 22 to 54
- 26 elderly
Of those 50…
- 13 constituents outside of Osage Reservation/Osage County
- 37 within the Osage Reservation service area
- 9 were veterans
Disability Assistance is a hundred percent funded by the Osage Nation and funding for Oct. 1 is pending approval by the 5th Osage Congress this TziZho Session, the fall legislative session, that begins in September.
Crisis Assistance, also one hundred percent Osage Nation funded, has been a valuable supportive service for eligible Osage citizens for more than ten years. It provides emergency assistance, “in times of a legitimate crisis for any Osage citizen that meets one of the following crisis criteria: illness or injury resulting in incapacitation, an Osage citizen in need for utility assistance because of the death of a household income provider, homelessness, weather related or natural disaster, domestic violence.”
Just like Disability Assistance, Crisis Assistance will begin a new year of supportive service on Oct. 1. This past year’s numbers for Crisis Assistance demonstrate the high level of support provided by the Nation for those in the greatest need.
“We have assisted 231 constituents, 59 were within Osage County boundaries and 172 were outside of Osage County,” said Cheshewalla.
For more information about the Osage Nation Financial Assistance Department, contact Cherokee Cheshewalla at 918-287-5326, email financial-assist@osagenation-nsn.gov or visit them online at www.osagenation-nsn.gov to learn more and download an application.
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