Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal health officials announced a firm opening date of July 6 for its Jamestown Healing Clinic to start seeing patients afflicted with opioid use disorder.
Originally set to open months ago, Dr. Molly Martin, the clinic’s executive director, said “with COVID and many steps and inspections involved in the process, each one took longer than anticipated.”
Said Martin, “The final inspection was in mid-May and since then we’ve been waiting for final (Drug Enforcement Administration) approval. We’re relieved and excited to open.”
The Healing Clinic, formerly known as the medication-assisted treatment (MAT) clinic, sits in an approximate 16,800-square-foot building on 526 S. Ninth Ave., at a cost of about $17 million.
Inside, staff will dispense daily doses of methadone along with offering wraparound services such as counseling, primary care, dental care, transportation and more.
Martin, the former director of the MAT clinic inside the Jamestown Family Health Clinic on Fifth Avenue, said the opening means they have highly regulated medications, such as methadone on site, and they’re ready to see patients that day.
The tribe employs 41 staff, including tribal citizens, descendants and employee transfers from the Fifth Avenue clinic. They’ve been on site training and prepping for months for patients, Martin said.
“We’re anxious to start seeing patients,” Martin said. “The community is hurting. We keep hearing about the increase of overdoses and we want to help with that.”
Start up
The clinic opens 6 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday with dispensing hours for patients on Saturday.
Those seeking an assessment can call the office at 360-681-7755 or visit jamestownhealingclinic.org.
Martin said they made the announcement of opening on June 30 but weeks prior they’ve had people inquiring at least every other day.
“We’re really excited because when they show up, we can get them care,” she said.
In a previous interview, Martin said they’ve set patient capacity at 300 at a “manageable and planned pace” over many months.
Patients could be with the clinic a few years or indefinitely depending on need, she said.
No prior authorization from a doctor is required, Martin said, and it’s a first-come, first-served protocol. The only priority for treatment allowed, she said, is for pregnant women, any tribal citizen, and those just released from prison or a hospital.
Families have access to a free Child Watch program separated from the clinic for children ages 6 weeks to 12-years-old with trained staff for up to three hours.
Facility
If patients receive methadone or Suboxone, they go into one of three dosing rooms. A nurse will provide the dosing with methadone coming from a machine that pours the small amount of medicine in a cup. They must consume all of the medication and it’s checked, tribal officials said.
Suboxone comes as a strip and vivitrol is an injection given in the medical area near the dosing area, Martin said previously. Medications are secured inside an 8,000-pound safe.
Most patients will have counseling services, Martin said, and counselors will make an assessment to determine what’s best for each patient. There are four group counseling rooms and 10 individual rooms.
For security, tribal officials said cameras are placed throughout the campus with a full team hired. They’re also paying $100,000 a year for three years to the City of Sequim for a social services navigator contractor through Peninsula Behavioral Health.
During an appeal process for the clinic’s application, the City of Sequim’s hearing examiner required a plan to measure impact on local services and report them quarterly to a special committee of community agency leaders and members.
Jamestown S’Klallam CEO and tribal chairman W. Ron Allen said via press release the clinic and its programs “adds to the quality and comprehensiveness of health care on our Olympic Peninsula.”
“It adds value to our Sequim Community, offering clients a professional facility,” Allen said. “We believe it will provide a cultural and natural aesthetic environment that will treat them with dignity and progressive medicinal science, showing that our community cares about people who are suffering and need help.”
He previously said the Healing Clinic is the first phase of a Healing Campus as the state legislature approved $3.25 million in planning funds for a 16-bed mental health crisis facility.
This proposal was dropped during the clinic’s original plans due to a lack of funds, tribal officials said.
The evaluation and treatment (E and T) psychiatric hospital will likely be south of the new clinic with no construction timeline set as they look to secure more funding, said Brent Simcosky, the tribe’s health services director.
Simcosky said the Healing Clinic provides services with support from Olympic Medical Center, Jefferson Healthcare, North Olympic Healthcare Network, Forks Hospital and Peninsula Behavioral Health. He also thanked legislators Steve Tharinger, Mike Chapman and Kevin Van De Wege for their support.
The facility was designed by Rice Fergus Miller Architects and built by Korsmo Construction.
For more information about the clinic, visit jamestownhealingclinic.org.
