PORT ANGELES — You start by expanding your health clinic six fold.
Next build a 48,000-square foot Wellness Center and crown it with a restaurant with a knockout view.
Then add an open-air amphitheater, playgrounds and trails.
Last but foremost, you group everything around a gathering place in the tradition of a Native American village.
The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe has started on the first step and could take the other strides by within five years, said Cecile Greenway, the tribe’s health and social services director.
Members of the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce got a peek at the concept plan of the complex last week when Greenway spoke at their Monday luncheon meeting.
What they may not have grasped is that it will serve non-Native residents of Clallam County as well as members of the Lower Elwha.
The expansion of the tribal health clinic at 243511 U.S. Highway 101 began in February. It will increase the number of examination rooms from four to 16.
Three dental chairs, now in the community health and social services building on the reservation, will move there. Three new chairs will join them.
Of the $2.8 million construction cost, $500,000 will come from a U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant.
The Bank of America has loaned the tribe $1.2 million guaranteed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Tribal funds will make up the remaining $1.1 million, Greenway said last week.
Most of the tribe’s share will come from “earned income,” insurance payments the clinic receives for its medical, mental health, and chemical dependency programs.
The money, said Greenway, is due to “very aggressive billing” to make sure tribal members file for any benefits they may have besides coverage under the Indian Health Service.
The IHS is no cornucopia of healthcare funds. It allocates $2,000 per member per year. That’s half what’s budgeted for federal prisoners, who otherwise would be at the bottom of the benefits ladder.
Moreover, payments haven’t kept pace with costs. Through 4½ years of the Bush administration, benefits have risen three-tenths of a percent while medical costs have skyrocketed.
Forty percent of the clinic’s patients are non-Natives, Greenway said, making it a hybrid of socialized and private medical care.
Accepting Medicaid
Currently the clinic is the only healthcare organization in the Port Angeles area that accepts new adult Medicaid clients. The children’s clinic still accepts new juveniles.
The tribe also is in partnership with Virginia Mason Medical Center to provide specialty services such as radiology at reduced cost. The clinic and the medical center also are in early discussions about sharing staff.
“They’ve appreciated that the tribe has been available to take some of the people they don’t want to take because of low Medicaid reimbursements,” Greenway said.
“They want to pay back. It’s a great way of doing this; it benefits both of us.”