The Muscogee Creek Nation is now going to be offering surgery services to its Council Oak Comprehensive Healthcare Center.

This is all thanks to a partnership with the OU-TU School of Community Medicine.

In addition to offering Muscogee Nation citizens surgery here, the funding will also help train residents.

Adding surgery to Council Oak in Tulsa will be a big step forward, when it comes to keeping people inside the health system.

David Hill, the Principal Chief of the Muscogee Nation, said the focus is about keeping citizens healthy.

"Diabetes, heart condition, anything,” said Hill. “What can we do? This is just one of the steps, just providing better healthcare for our citizens."

The surgeries and resident training services are the result of several years of planning between the OU-TU School of Community Medicine and the Muscogee Nation.

James Herman, the Dean of the College of Community Medicine, said this will help teach students in a new way.

"Helping our learners learn about underserved communities and tribal communities is incredibly important, so having a relationship with the Muscogee Creek Nation helps us in so many ways," said Herman.

The Muscogee Creek Nation hopes this partnership will keep tribal members from having to go elsewhere for surgeries.

"This partnership with OU is really going to allow us to be able to keep more of our patients inside of our own system, so that we can take care of our patients internally," said Shawn Terry, the Secretary of Health for the Muscogee Nation.

Herman wants students to take advantage of this unique opportunity.

"Working with various communities around Tulsa including the community of indigenous people such as the Muscogee Creek Nation, allows us to teach Public Health and Community Medicine at a level that we couldn't do without," said Herman.

Surgeries will begin in the next few weeks.