- Details
- By Brian Edwards
- Health Care
The Indian Health Service has selected three tribal health organizations for the agency’s first-ever Long-Term Care Joint Venture Construction Program projects, marking a new federal effort to expand skilled nursing and elder care capacity in Indian Country.
The selections, announced April 29, include the Coeur d’Alene Tribe in Idaho, the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium in Sitka, Alaska, and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation in Bethel, Alaska.
The projects will use the IHS Joint Venture Construction Program model, which allows tribes or tribal organizations to finance and build healthcare facilities using tribal, private or other non-IHS funding. In exchange, IHS seeks congressional funding for staffing and operations through a no-cost, 20-year lease arrangement.
The initiative comes as tribal communities face growing demand for long-term and skilled nursing care, particularly in rural and remote regions where elders often must leave their home communities for care.
SEARHC plans to build a new 28-bed skilled nursing and long-term care facility adjacent to Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center in Sitka. Tribal leaders said the project will allow more Alaska Native elders to remain closer to family and community rather than relocating for services outside the region.
YKHC said it plans a $66 million expansion of the YK Elders Home in Bethel, doubling capacity from 18 to 36 beds and adding approximately 30,000 square feet. The tribal health organization said the project will help elders across 58 rural southwest Alaska communities remain connected to family, friends and traditional ways of life.
The Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s Marimn Health plans a long-term care and skilled nursing facility focused on dementia care, rehabilitation, hospice and chronic care management in a culturally responsive setting designed to keep elders connected to family, community and tribal culture.
Since launching in 1991, the IHS Joint Venture Construction Program has supported more than 35 tribal healthcare facilities nationwide.
