People in Whatcom County will have access to more opioid treatment facilities in 2025, with a new wellness center expected to open in the first or second quarter of the year.
When open, the Bellingham Didgʷálič Wellness Center will provide medication for people with opioid use disorder through two mobile medical units, along with additional care in a currently vacant clinic at 2028 Division St. The clinic in Bellingham will serve as an extension of the Didgʷálič Wellness Center in Anacortes, which is owned and run by the Swinomish Tribe.
Presented to the Whatcom County Council on Tuesday, Dec. 3, Response Systems Division Manager Malora Christensen said this project will increase the availability of medication, treatment, and clinical and behavioral health services in the county, in line with priorities outlined in the Fentanyl Operations Plan.
The council will vote on a lease agreement with the Swinomish Tribe on Jan. 14 to get the project underway. Funding discussions of the project are ongoing and will be outlined in the agreement presented in January, Communications Specialist Marie Duckworth said.
The mobile medical units will be parked adjacent to the clinic, and are licensed to dispense methadone and buprenorphine, Duckworth said in an email. The clinic will employ doctors, nurse practitioners, substance use disorder counselors and more, and will accept walk-in and scheduled appointments.
The original Didgʷálič Wellness Center in Anacortes is run by the Swinomish, but serves mainly non-tribal members, Chief Medical Officer Bryce Parent said, as tribal leaders saw they couldn’t fully address opioid addiction if they focused only on their own community.
“[They saw] that establishing a facility that serves the wider community beyond the tribal community, beyond the reservation, was essential because this addiction doesn’t respect borders,” Parent told the county council.
Christensen said the Bellingham clinic will provide free transportation to the main Didgʷálič Wellness Center in Anacortes for clients to access primary care and dental care services.
County Executive Satpal Sidhu said he visited the Anacortes location recently with Bellingham Mayor Kim Lund and County Deputy Executive Kayla Schott-Bresler. He said at a council committee meeting Tuesday he was “very impressed” and that this would be a “good additional resource” for the community.
Bellingham City Council President Dan Hammill “helped facilitate” the partnership between didgʷálič and Whatcom County Health and Community Services.
Hammill said earlier this year that the Swinomish Tribe had contacted Bellingham City Council after seeing an article about the city’s ordinance to ban public drug use in response to an increase in overdoses. From there, Hammill went down to the clinic and formed a relationship with staff members.
In February, Swinomish tribal council leaders approached elected leaders in Whatcom County and offered to develop satellite treatment services, including the two mobile medical units, according to a Whatcom County staff memo.
“Their definition of community is much broader, and I think there’s a lesson to be learned here from Swinomish Tribe that we must look at community in its broadest sense,” Hammill told CDN.
Bellingham City Council has not taken any formal action in regard to this partnership, but Assistant Communications Director David Brauhn said in an email the city and council are “supportive” of the partnership and “its potential to help those in our community suffering from substance use disorder.”
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
