K’ima:w Medical Center Awarded $6.2 Million to Build Culturally-Based Community Wellness and Prevention Center
Press release from the K’ima:w Medical Center:
K’ima:w Medical Center
The K’ima:w Medical Center (KMC) is pleased to announce the receipt of a $6.2 Million award from the Department of Health Care Services as part of the Bond Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP). The funding will be used to develop a Community Wellness/Prevention Center which will include a retreat area for more intensive Behavioral Health treatment utilizing Native American traditional healing. The planned development will be located near the main K’ima:w Medical Center campus and be adjacent to the Behavioral Health Building that is currently being developed. The project will help bridge the gaps in treatment service that has not been previously available in the Hoopa Valley. It will provide a step-up facility to augment and expand on the current out-patient Behavioral Health and Medication Assisted Treatment programs.
Nestled in a serene and private setting, this culturally significant wellness area offers a restorative space where clients and community members can engage in traditional healing practices. The site features cottages for overnight stays, sweat lodges for Indigenous wellness ceremonies, smokehouses for food preservation, and designated recreational areas to support physical and spiritual well-being. Winding nature trails, water features, and a native plant garden provide a rich environment for reflection, education, and reconnection to the land. Food sovereignty workshops and traditional teachings will be central to the space, with activities such as harvesting, preserving, and smoking food taking place on-site. The area also serves as a vital extension of the KMC campus, supporting training, retreats, and cultural immersion opportunities.
The overall goal of K’ima:w Medical Center is to expand and bring more treatment options to the Hoopa community. The new launch of a Mobile Medical Vehicle that was recently announced will add to these outreach efforts. This funding will allow us to integrate traditional approaches and modern therapies, fostering a holistic environment that honors cultural heritage and promotes mental wellness. We are committed to creating a safe space where individuals and families can embark on their healing journey, rooted in community, respect, and spirituality.
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Wasn’t here a $30 million dollar funding of a ‘wellness center’ in Witcheipec ?
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Help the taxpayer !!! Help us !!!
Taxpayers need to stop voting for feel-good propositions then allowing the government to use their politically oriented judgement on how that money is spent. Because of course politicians judge need using political advantage of course. Which does not include the government assuming the burden of long term costs of various programs. It does include playing the generous benefactor with other people’s money, passing out grants then using the good vibes for Party politics next election cycle.
Of course any check on spending requires more tax payers than tax fed as a control over spending. In California, progressive income taxes has left a surprising large number of voters on the not-paying side of the divide. Some people harp on the idea the rich should pay income taxes but the poorer should not. A neat idea except for the effect of removing liability for paying for it among voters. If about half of households don’t pay income taxes, why should they worry about paying for what they want? And that’s where the country stands.
““Californians demanded swift action to address our state’s behavioral health crisis when they voted for Prop 1 in March 2024. Today, we’re delivering our biggest win yet. These launch-ready projects will build and expand residential beds and treatment slots for those who need help. Whether it’s crisis stabilization, inpatient services, or long-term treatment, we’re ensuring that individuals can access the right care at the right time.”
Governor Gavin Newsom”
https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/05/12/governor-newsom-announces-billions-of-dollars-for-behavioral-health-treatment-facilities-and-services-for-seriously-ill-and-homeless-thanks-to-prop-1/
You are absolutely right. While this $6.2 million award is a positive step, it truly is just a drop in the bucket when you consider the generational trauma and profound loss that cultural cleansing has inflicted upon our people.
It’s not simply about providing services; it’s about acknowledging the systemic, intentional severance from a way of life that sustained our ancestors for millennia. The threads of cultural identity—language, ceremony, land-based knowledge, community structures—were not merely “lost,” they were violently ripped away.
My own ancestors, and yours, experienced that direct assault, and it reverberates through every subsequent generation.
So, yes, a wellness center with sweat lodges and traditional healing is a necessary and welcome beginning. But it’s also a stark reminder of what was taken, and the immense, ongoing work required to even begin to mend those wounds. It’s about rebuilding, reclaiming, and regenerating what was suppressed, not just for those in Hoopa today, but as an act of profound recognition and responsibility to those who came before us and those who will follow. This isn’t just about healthcare; it’s about restorative justice, about affirming our inherent sovereignty and right to our own cultural continuity.
Why are taxpayers funding this? Casino money should cover this.
Overnight cottages? Residential walking trails? Water features? Smokehouse to prepare food?
Sweat houses/sauna?
Sounds like a resort to me and yes, certainly any of us would benefit by going to a resort-especially when built specially for us in our own backyard with someone else’s money
I agree with the previous comment – someone help the taxpayer!
So alcohol and meth treatment???? What pray tell, are the traditional cultural treatment modalities??
Since my taxes are paying for it, does that mean I get to go? Or do you have to be Native American. This sounds like I’m funding segregation and racism.
This is great news.
i hope the Hoopa take advantage of the indigenous medicine that will be offered.
Western medicine is very limited.
Its focus and strength is in diagnosing disease and using chemicals to kill – bacteria, viruses, etc.
They lack any facility to actually Make Someone Better. They can only kill what is not wanted.
Native medicine, as well as Traditional Chinese Medicine, heals and embraces the body and spirit and lends healing, as opposed to just killing off what is unwanted.
I’d like to see a publicly funded facility, open to tribal members as well as the non tribal residents of the Hoopa Willow Creek area, that would offer Traditional Chinese Medicine as well as intensive dietary advice and instruction.
So much of illness can be treated with acupuncture, herbs and proper, individually prescribed nutrition.
Open Door, in Willow Creek, has the room to offer such services if they chose.
I hope this place is a beacon of hope for those who have lost their way. An accessible solution, a bridge to hybridization. The modern ways of western medicine supported by native traditions could be the balance the lost need to heal themselves.
those of us who work pay taxes, that’s part of being an American. This country affords its citizens certain inalienable rights. We can pay to get our friends and family well, or we can keep paying for the cat to chase the mouse.
I have lost many friends, people I loved very much and think of everyday to overdose or suicide. They were hurting lost and just searching for comfort or relief from their pain. I pray this center allows ANYONE of any race religion, ethnicity or culture to access care.
everyone breaths air requires water and needs food to survive. The native teachings of grounding one’s self for center and cognitive clarity, and treating the land and her offering as gifts from all of our mother, earth are simple beneficial practices for all. their gonna buy it let’s make sure they spend the money well. As a community make sure you get the most bang for your Bucks!
We program on incentive. I hope achiving control of ones self with out substance is the ultimate goal here. Gods speed my friends