Lummi hopes $2 million grant builds ‘sober productive lives, families and communities’
The Washington State Department of Commerce last week awarded a $2 million grant to the Lummi Nation it plans to use toward a planned 16-bed facility to support medical detoxification services.
“We are continuing the work of our past leaders and ancestors, who never wanted this drug epidemic for our people,” Lummi Nation Communications Director Julie Jefferson told The Bellingham Herald about the project.
Commerce announced in a release Thursday, Jan. 9, that it is awarding 10 grants across the state worth a combined $12.4 million to help people with a wide variety of behavioral health issues.
When it opens, the new Lummi facility will increase the number of medically supervised detoxification services available to adult men and women in the area who suffer from substance use disorder, Jefferson said.
“Medically supervised detoxification services will be designed to meet the medical needs of each patient and to link them with appropriate sobriety maintenance services — leading to sober productive lives, families and communities,” Jefferson said.
The Lummi Nation Behavioral Health Services Task Force, under the direction of the Lummi Indian Business Council, plans to complete operational plans and facility design, which could include solar and geothermal energy sources, by the end of 2020, Jefferson said. Construction is planned to begin in 2020 and be completed in 2021.
The total cost for the project is estimated to be more than $4 million, Jefferson said, with the Lummi Nation committing its own funds and seeking additional funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Health Services to cover what the Commerce grant does not.
The Commerce grants are part of Gov. Jay Inslee’s five-year plan to modernize the state’s mental health system to help end civil patient placements at the state’s large hospitals by 2023, according to the press release. Funds may be used for construction and equipment costs in establishing facilities, and projects must be maintained for their original purpose for 15 years.
“Lummi Nation would like to recognize and thank Governor Inslee and the Washington State Legislature for their behavioral health reform initiative and commitment to improve people’s access to mental health and treatment care services,” Jefferson said. “The funding for this project represents a positive step for (Lummi Indian Business Council) to work effectively with state health officials to promote health and wellness in our community.”
