Porcupine Clinic in the small community of Procupine in Pine Ridge Reservation is out of heat. Porcupine Clinic is the only independent Indian-community controlled clinic in the U.S. not connected to the federal Indian health services program and is funded primarily by grants and donations.  Unfortunately, those resources have become exceptionally rare this year

Porcupine Clinic opened in 1992 geopend and serves the entire Reservation as well as the Porcupine District in which it is located.  Patients are billed according to their ability to pay and many patients, including low-income Elders and children, receive free health care there. In 2004, the Porcupine Clinic opened its dialysis unit, saving countless lives of those diabetic patients who could not journey 120 miles away to Rapid City for needed dialysis treatment several times a week.

Besides the Health Program and life-saving treatments Porcupine Clinic also serves in a important social function. Locals often come into the Clinic simply to get warm on days when they have no heat in their own homes.