Tribal members, local dignitaries, local residents and other advocates got a chance to see the initial designs for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s proposed medication-assisted treatment (MAT) clinic on Dec. 5.

With a crowd of about 200 packed into the Jamestown Family Health Clinic, tribal leaders and designers unveiled initial drawings for the as-yet-unnamed facility that the tribe hopes to build on its property just west of downtown Sequim.

With dozens protesting the project along North Fifth Avenue a few hundred yards away, tribal chairman W. Ron Allen told the invitation-only audience the project that’s designed to help residents on the North Olympic Peninsula battle opioid addiction is moving forward.

“We are aware there are people who oppose this (facility), but we firmly believe this project works,” Allen said. “The MAT is about healing, about getting people healthy again.”

Brent Simcosky, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s health services director, said the tribe plans to file its official application with the City of Sequim in the next month.

“We’re calling this ‘The Healing Journey Begins’,” Simcosky said.

On Dec. 5, Simcosky and Bud Turner, manager of the Jamestown S’Klallam carving shed, gave their audience some background on the main themes of the proposed clinic’s design, as well as architectural plans for what they said is expected to be a 17,000-square-foot building that will feature offices and space for primary care, dental care, child care, counseling and the drug treatment itself, along with offices for staff and administration.

A consistent theme in the design, they pointed out, is rock and river. Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe storyteller Elaine Grinnell told of a grandfather teaching his grandson life lessons on a fishing excursion. A rock placed in a river, he told the younger one, has the ability to change a river’s course.

In the same way, those seeking treatment for their addictions can change their life’s course, she said.

“I didn’t realize there are so many people who care about a wonderful thing that’s going to happen in our community,” Grinnell told the audience. “You are about your community and keeping it safe. These people are going to benefit from what you are doing.”

Additionally, Turner noted, the artwork includes interlocking salmon on their life’s journeys.

Suzanne Pontecorvo, a designer with the Kitsap-County based Rice Fergus Miller architecture firm, said the MAT clinic design is intended to give “the feeling that we’re all coming together.”

Pontecorvo added, “There’s not going to be healing without connection. We hope you’ll be able to feel that when you’re there.”

MAT background

Tribal officials say the MAT facility will be unlike any other on the North Olympic Peninsula, where almost all medication-assisted treatment is provided by primary care providers.

In May 2018, the tribe purchased 20 acres of land zoned for health care on South Ninth Avenue, adjacent to US Highway 101, where it plans to build a facility that that could be expanded to about 25,000 square feet and eventually treat about 250 patients.

The clinic, broadly named by the tribe as a Healing Campus, includes a two-phase MAT facility and an inpatient psychiatric evaluation and treatment facility. Clinic staff would dispense daily doses of methadone, Suboxone and Vivitrol for opioid-use disorder and receive wrap-around services.

Initial plans had the clinic spanning 15,000 square feet but Simcosky said this week that once designers added dental space, a laboratory and larger child care center, the square footage grew to about 17,000 square feet.

The number of patients the clinic will see, he clarified, remains at 250.

The MAT facility campus — one that will eventually include Olympic Medical Center and Jefferson Healthcare — received $7.2 million from the state’s capital budget application. The project is expected to cost about $20 million overall, with leaders seeking the remainder of funding in the upcoming legislative session.

Simcosky previously said the tribe will use about $3 million of its own funds for phase one.

“A person does not choose addiction (but) a person can choose recovery,” Simcosky said last week.

“I used to say, ‘Why can’t we help?’ I’m starting to say, ‘We will be there to help.’

“Sometimes doing the right thing isn’t the easy thing.”

The clinic proposal has drawn the ire of a number of local residents and the Save Our Sequim group, who have addressed a number of concerns at several Sequim City Council meetings and public forums held earlier this year.

Simcosky said on Dec. 5 that he and other tribe officials have addressed those concerns a number of times — contradicting rumors that people would be bused to the MAT facility from cities like Seattle and Tacoma, “I repeated that so many times I wish I could clone myself,” he said — and noted that the tribe’s MAT application will include a Community Response Plan to address community concerns such as safety.

“Even with all the distractions, we are right where we want to be,” Simcosky said.

“I’m ready to celebrate.”

Modeled after didgʷálič

Allen credited John Stephens, Program Chief Executive Officer of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community didgʷálič Wellness Center, for providing a blueprint of what the Sequim facility would offer.

Stephens said the didgʷálič facility and the Johns Hopkins Broadway Center for Addiction in Baltimore, Maryland, are the only kinds of MAT centers offering such comprehensive opioid treatment care in the nation.

He told the crowd Thursday that the Swinomish tribe had never offered services to non-tribal residents prior to didgʷálič’s opening. Tribe officials there came to the conclusion that expanding its clientele would be beneficial for the tribe in the long run, Stephens said.

“The statement was, ‘We need to do it because we can’,” he said. “We faced an epidemic — the opioid crisis is an epidemic.”

The didgʷálič clinic sees 30 percent native, 70 percent non-native clientele, he said.

Stephens said he expects that if the Sequim MAT facility is built and those who oppose the facility examine it a year after it opens, they will thank the tribe.

Allen also gave kudos to local leaders such as Rep. Steve Tharinger and Clallam County commissioner Mark Ozias, both of whom were in attendance.

Allen thanked local health leaders — Eric Lewis, Olympic Medical Center’s CEO, and Jefferson Healthcare CEO Mike Glenn, in particular — for their partnership in the project.

“To me partnerships is how you get things done,” Lewis said at the Dec. 5 event, noting a community health needs assessment identified its top two priorities as mental health and substance abuse services.

“I think we should bring as much hope as we can,” he said.

As the tribe becomes more successful, Allen said, it is able to give back to the community to both tribal and non-tribal citizens.

“This project is about getting people healthy,” he said.

“One year from now, you’ll be seeing it opening up.”

For more on the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s proposed clinic, visit https://jamestownhealingcampus.org.

Reach Michael Dashiell at editor@sequimgazette.com.

Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe storyteller Elaine Grinnell speaks at the tribe’s MAT clinic design event on Dec. 5 in Sequim. Behind her are Brent Simcosky, the tribe’s health services director and Bud Turner, manager of the Jamestown S’Klallam carving shed.

State Rep. Steve Tharinger, right, speaks at the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s MATC clinic deign reveal on Dec. 5 in Sequim, with tribal chairman W. Ron Allen looking on. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell

Brent Simcosky, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s health services director, explains the layout of the tribe’s proposed medication-assisted treatment (MAT) facility. Sequim Gazette photos by Michael Dashiell

At center, Bud Turner, manager of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s carving shed, talks about some of the art choices in the conceptual designs of the tribe’s proposed medicine-assisted treatment (MAT) facility. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell

Brent Simcosky, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s health services director, speaks at the design reveal event for the tribe’s proposed medicine-assisted treatment (MAT) facility, held Dec. 5 in Sequim. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell

Designers of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s proposed medicine-assisted treatment (MAT) facility reveal conceptual drawings at a Dec. 5 event in Sequim. At right is Bud Turner, manager of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s carving shed. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell

Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe chairman W. Ron Allen, right, speaks at a design reveal event on Dec. 5 for the tribe’s proposed medicine-assisted treatment (MAT) facility. Looking on is Suzanne Pontecorvo, a designer with the Rice Fergus Miller architecture firm, and Bud Turner, manager of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s carving shed. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell