Coalition Of Tribes Opens Healing Lodge For Youths Facility Offers Drug And Alcohol Treatment For Native Youths

With the pounding of traditional drums in the background, members of seven Northwest Indian tribes gathered Wednesday to celebrate the opening of a new drug and alcohol treatment center for youths.

The Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations is a 45-bed facility on the eastern edge of Spokane. Its 38-acre site is dotted with pine trees and visited by deer and marmots.

“Someday, maybe this place can be used for something more joyous. But today, we have to use it for healing,” said Glen Nenema, an official with the Kalispel Tribe of Eastern Washington.

The $6.5 million center was built with federal and state money and was more than 10 years in the making. It offers 60 to 90 days of residential treatment for youths and has 12 beds set aside so family members can participate in counseling for part of their child’s stay.

Yvette Joseph-Fox of Washington’s Colville tribe called the center “a tribute to the dreams we hold dear.”

The center has more than 50 staff members and features modern computer equipment, a gymnasium and a school so patients won’t fall behind academically.

The center is aimed at helping Indian adolescents, but also is open to non-Indian youths.

Antonia Romas of Porterville, Calif., is celebrating a year of sobriety after graduating from a similar Indian-run drug treatment center in Spokane.

Romas, 18, said she used to smoke marijuana “from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed” and dabbled in beer and amphetamines. She said the new center is “nice and big - better than what we had before.”

Washington Gov. Mike Lowry was on hand Wednesday to praise the tribes’ efforts.

“This recognizes our most important of all assets are children,” Lowry said. “I often plagiarize on the Native American statement that all decisions should be made for the seventh generation.”

Bruce Wynne, chairman of the Spokane Indian Tribe, said the center is “just a start” and the tribes will now concentrate on building halfway houses on each reservation to help patients ease back into a life of sobriety.

The healing lodge is governed by the Colville, Kalispel and Spokane tribes of Washington; Nez Perce, Kootenai and Coeur d’Alene tribes of Idaho; and the Umatilla tribe of Oregon.

MEMO: Cut in the Spokane edition