Inside the new Lummi Nation Health Center, patients walk in to find a space that’s reflective of their culture.
There’s a wall of native plants adjacent to a small stand where patients can pick up fresh fruits and vegetables. Native art from across the Pacific Northwest adorns the walls. And a stream with colorful salmon statues runs right down the middle of the cedar-log-house-inspired building.
The health center, which opened June 28, will serve patients from babies to elders looking to receive primary care — including X-rays and blood work — physical therapy, dental care and behavioral health care.
But Lummi Nation wants to go further in the care that it’s providing to tribal members. Currently, the tribe is three months into planning a secure residential stabilization center — the first of its kind on tribal land in Washington — for those fighting substance abuse. The tribe is seeking $10.6 million in funding from federal partners to build the detox facility, scheduled to open in late 2025.
“We want to be a healing campus,” Lummi Nation Chairman Anthony Hillaire said Tuesday, July 16, during a tour of the new facility, where U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA, and Bellingham Mayor Kim Lund were in attendance.
Walking into the bright, open-air space at the beginning of the tour of the $27 million health center — funded through loans and tribal revenue — Murray said it best when she greeted Hillaire.
“This is beautiful,” she said.
Hillaire and Murray met with health care staff, from primary care doctors to lab technicians and radiologic technologists, along with reviewing the patient treatment rooms and a drop-in daycare for children of staff and patients.
Stabilization center to address health disparities
If Murray, who chairs the U.S. Senate Appropriations committee in Washington, D.C., secures the $10.6 million needed for the stabilization center, it’ll be one more way Lummi Nation is working with its federal partners to address the growing opioid crisis impacting tribal citizens.
“The funding requests that you put in will get us across the finish line for another state-of-the-art facility that will complement this to take care of our people that are in immediate need of addressing drug addiction,” Hillaire said, gesturing to the health center.
Lummi Nation issued a state of emergency in September after seven tribal members died of fentanyl overdoses. Hillaire also called on Gov. Jay Inslee and President Joe Biden in January to declare a state of emergency related to the fentanyl crisis.
Hillaire told Cascadia Daily News Tuesday that he hopes the facility will send a message that Lummi Nation is ready to stand up to the seriousness of the fentanyl crisis.
“It’s part of the immediate need for those that are ready to stand up and address their addiction, who I believe are our greatest leaders because they carry hope that we will one day overcome this historical trauma and break ourselves from the bounce of cycles of abuse,” he said.
Site plans for the 24/7 residential stabilization center include 16 patient rooms with up to 32 beds, healing gardens and spaces, and a sweat lodge, Lummi Health and Human Services CEO Katy Halverson explained.
She said when planning the facility, they wanted to move away from a feeling of institutionalization and wanted to make it feel more like home.
By having the substance stabilization facility across the street from the health center, it also ensures that people seeking treatment for their substance abuse disorder can access other health resources, Halverson said.
Murray praised Lummi Nation for the way it’s choosing to address the fentanyl crisis.
“It’s so great that the Lummi Nation is really looking at all aspects of how they can help in the detox center,” she told CDN. “I think it’s a great example and opportunity for us to look at what works and to go from there.”
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
