Makah Indian Tribe

Amount Appropriated?

$4.9M

FFID tracks stages 1–2 — stages 3–5 vary by agency, assistance type, and earmark structure.

Project Description

A long-term priority of the Makah Tribe has been the expansion and relocation of the Sophie Trettevick Indian Health Center Clinic (STIHC) outside of the Tsunami Inundation Zone (TIZ). The STIHC is the only healthcare facility on the Makah Reservation. The next closest medical facilities are located well over an hour away in Forks, WA and Port Angeles, WA. \nThe Reservation is located adjacent to the Cascadia Subduction Zone, which can produce a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and associated tsunami. The Tribe's critical infrastructure, including public safety and healthcare facilities, are located within the TIZ. Risks to low-lying coastal infrastructure are now being compounded by climate change-driven storm surge, seasonal flooding, and erosion. The STIHC is also located in a cellular and internet service shadow. In a major event scenario, the Makah Tribe could be without outside assistance for up to a year. The relocation of the STIHC out of the TIZ would help ensure that essential healthcare services can continue in large disaster events, winter storm events, and improve emergency communications and telemedicine opportunities. \nThis project is a good use of taxpayer dollars because it provides critical public health and safety benefits to the Makah community and the Olympic Peninsula and contributes to fulfilling federal trust obligations to the Makah Tribe. Native communities experience significant health disparities, disproportionate disease burden, and lower life expectancies. Investments in the Makah Tribe\u2019s healthcare infrastructure is essential from an equity and public health standpoint, as well as consistent with the federal trust obligations under the 1855 Treaty of Neah Bay. \nThis project builds resilience by incorporating climate change and disaster preparedness into siting decision-making. The project will create new permanent jobs in an area of high unemployment and be a self-sustaining investment through ongoing Indian Health Service programs.