- Colville, WA
The Colville Tribe was one out of five selected tribes for the Indian Health Service’s (IHS) Joint Venture Construction Program. This will be a new assisting program in partnership with the Omak’s new health care outpatient facility 2hrs 14min west. Washington State Senator Maria Cantwell (D) and Rep. Dan Newhouse (R) jointly sent in a letter last year in support of the Washington state based tribe for the program.
KPQ news radio reported that the new program will partner with the Colville tribe for the construction project. This means that the tribe will construct the facility and can them leases it to the IHS at no cost for 20 years.
Newhouse stated:
“I applaud this commitment by the Indian Health Service to help deliver these much-needed services in Omak.”
Cantwell added a statement in a press release stating:
“Tribes are on the front lines delivering health care services not only to Tribal members but surrounding communities as well. It’s great that the Colville Tribe can move forward with building a new outpatient health care facility after being selected for the Joint Venture Construction Program. The Tribe has been working on getting this done for 22 years, and I hope work will get started as soon as possible.”
Congress funds the IHS programs to provide essential staffing, operations and maintenance.