The Health and Human Services (HHS) Department is located in the Squaxin Island Health Clinic on Klah-Che-Min Drive.
Over 9,000 patient/client contacts take place each year with services provided for medical, dental, mental health, family services, Indian Child welfare (ICW) and community health. Contract Health Services provides purchase order numbers to eligible clients for health visits outside our facility.
Quarterly mammogram clinics are a successful part of our womens’ cancer prevention program.
The Tribe operates a health clinic located at 90 SE Clahchemin Drive, in Shelton Washington. The Clinic had 1,533 primary care patient visits and 361 other patient visits for a total of 1,894 patient visits in FY 1996. The Tribe bills Medicare, Medicaid and other third party payers. The Tribe’s Contract Health Service Delivery Area (CHSDA) is Mason County.
Services are provided in a tribally owned building with 6,720 SF under an IHS funded P.L. 93-638, Title III self-governance compact. The Tribe also operates an alcohol and substance abuse program in an inpatient treatment facility with 8,979 SF located in Elma. Additional programs include community health representative, public health services, health education, nutrition, optometry, dental, emergency medical services, alcoholism treatment, community nursing, home health care, and traditional medicine.
Of the total resident population of 405 persons (2000 census), 383 lived in off-reservation trust land to the southeast of Kamilche, and 22 lived on Harstine Island, while the bulk of the reservation’s territory, Squaxin Island, was unpopulated. The leading causes of death are heart disease, malignant neoplasm, cirrhosis of the liver, accidents other than motor vehicle, and cerebrovascular disease. There were 673 Active users in 2002.
Northwest Indian Treatment Center (NWITC), which opened in 1994, provides residential alcohol and drug treatment to a primarily Native American population from Washington, Oregon and Idaho. It received national accreditation by CARF in January 1998 and was recognized by the reviewers as one of the best residential programs in the nation. Welcomed and hailed by tribal leaders who felt the urgent need for such a facility, NWITC has responded with an overwhelming success rate of nearly 60 percent. The treatment center specializes in unresolved trauma and grief related to chronic relapse patterns.
Ingenious in creativity, the center offers a wide variety of cultural activities and traditional/religious ceremonies, making it a natural place to heal . . . body, mind and soul. Fittingly, the center was given the spiritual name “D3WXbi Palil” meaning “Returning from the Dark, Deep Waters to the Light.”
The treatment center accepts patients that are referred through outpatient treatment programs, parole and probation services, hospitals, assessment centers and child and family service centers. Medical care is provided through local Indian Health Service clinics and other medical service providers. Centrally located in Grays Harbor County between Olympia and Aberdeen, the center rests on 2.5 acres in the small rural town of Elma, WA.