The Lummi Nation celebrated the grand opening of the New Life Center, a temporary “stabilization and withdrawal recovery center,” on tribal lands Thursday, April 27.
The center, designed to be a temporary detox facility for Lummi Nation members facing fentanyl and opioid addiction, offers evaluations Monday through Friday, and will provide temporary housing for individuals experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
The facility offers space for seven individuals undergoing treatment, with all-day supervision and support. Caretakers will emphasize medical stabilization and cultural identity, helping participants reconnect with family and tribal customs.
“This is our version of taking immediate action to take care of our people in a timely manner,” Lummi Indian Business Council (LIBC) Chairman Anthony Hillaire said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “This is a good day today at the Lummi Nation.”
The facility, though, is temporary, and just the first step in combating the fentanyl epidemic. The tribe plans to develop a larger, more permanent in-patient detox facility.
“They’re still raising money for [the larger facility], but they have architectural plans,” said Dr. Adam Kartman, who specializes in addiction medicine. “This may be the first step, but it’s been a vision for a long time to have more detox-type [facilities].”
Kartman has been treating members of the Lummi Nation, as well as patients in the surrounding community in Whatcom and Skagit counties, for years. Though he’s treated patients fighting several kinds of addiction, he said the fentanyl epidemic has been among the worst.
“Fentanyl has made things so bad for so many people,” he said. “It’s even more addictive and much stronger than heroin or prescription pain pills, and is harder to quit.”
The fentanyl crisis has grown exponentially in recent years, with the death toll rising each day, and currently, the Bellingham Fire Department has responded to an average of 2.2 overdose calls per day.
Kartman said Lummi residents were hit particularly hard by prescription opioids like Oxycontin and Percocet years ago, but fentanyl is easier to access, and much cheaper to buy. Though he said medical-grade fentanyl was used safely across operating rooms, labor and delivery care and emergency departments, the drugs available on the street differ drastically.
Even so, tribal leadership is encouraged by the new facility, and especially motivated by the cultural healing aspect.
“It makes us really happy to be able to open these doors and give our people a place to heal,” Willie Jones Jr., secretary of the LIBC, said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Thursday’s grand opening was the third key event for the tribe this week. Earlier this week, the tribe welcomed the National Indian Health Board, and hosted a grand opening for a transitional housing facility on Lummi grounds.
Thursday’s event drew several local politicians, hoping to learn more about the new detox center and how to combat fentanyl addiction.
“The Lummi are leaders in this,” said Barry Buchanan, a member of the Whatcom County Council. “We really are taking the same approach as them to the crisis.”
Buchanan said the county currently relies on the Anne Deacon Center for Hope, a crisis stabilization center for the county that has 16 beds for detox and 16 for mental health crises. The county also just received funding from the state to build a 23-hour crisis care center to supplement the Deacon Center.
This story was updated May 1 at 4:45 p.m. to include additional details about medical fentanyl.
