Indian Health Service selects Omak Clinic for joint venture construction program

(Nespelem, WA)- The Chairman of the Colville Business Council announced today that the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation’s application for a new clinic in Omak was one of five projects selected nationwide by the Indian Health Service (IHS) for its Joint Venture facility construction program. The Joint Venture program is a highly competitive program where an Indian tribe builds a health facility and the IHS pays for the recurring staffing costs. The four other projects IHS selected are in the states of Alaska, North Dakota, and Oklahoma.

“The Colville Tribes have been pursuing a new clinic in Omak for nearly three decades,” said Colville Business Council Chairman Rodney Cawston. “IHS’s decision to select the Omak facility will allow the Tribes to build a new clinic in Omak and ensure that we have federally funded staffing to provide uninterrupted health care delivery,” Cawston added. Cawston noted that selection of the project by the IHS will allow the Colville Tribes to update its historically low staffing ratios, which have been in effect since the 1930s.

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