All Nations Health Center

Walking Well with Traditional Healing

This project successfully increased the health center’s capacity to provide culturally adapted, evidence-based, and trauma-informed awareness to the over 500 active clients they see each year. Project accomplishments include providing historical trauma education sessions and Community Resiliency Model workshops to the Missoula community. Mending Broken Hearts, a grief support series, was provided to clients who reported a deeper understanding of historical and inter-generational trauma and were able to begin addressing the impact on their own lives. Finally, a trauma-informed organizational assessment was completed, and trauma-informed practices were incorporated into the diabetes prevention education series offered to teens and adults.

Grant Amount

$50,000

Term

24 month

2018

All Nations Health Center

Qua Qui Connection: The Circle of Good Medicine & Holistic Care

This grant supported the All Nations Health Center (the urban Indian health center in Missoula) to provide integrated, comprehensive, culturally appropriate care for one of the largest urban Indian populations in the state. This underserved population has suffered disproportionately from diabetes, high-blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and obesity—conditions that are both preventable and treatable with appropriate primary care services. Over the course of the grant, the All Nations Health Center hired a full-time family nurse practitioner to provide primary medical care; created organization-wide policies and procedures that guide and support the integration of medical and behavioral services; trained all clinical, support, and administrative staff on integrated health care models; obtained a medication assisted treatment (MAT) certification for the nurse practitioner, allowing them to treat those struggling with opioid use issues; helped the community better understand the structure and importance of integrated health care; and transitioned to an electronic health records (EHR) system that supports full integration of care. With the addition of primary care services, the All Nations Health Center was able to be recognized by Medicaid and Medicare as an urban FQHC, giving it access to a more favorable rate of reimbursement, which will help ensure its sustainability into the future.

Grant Amount

$150,000

Term

24 month

2017

Arlee Community Development Corporation

Pivoting from Emergency Food Response to Food Sovereignty (FSC) Programming with Healthy Local Foods

The Arlee Community Development Corporation will establish a walk-in, choice-based food pantry and a food resource center for the Jocko Valley (comprised of Lake, Sanders, and Missoula Counties), providing more local, healthy food options for the community. This project will help create local partnerships and reorganize food distribution models to connect local producers with local communities. The resource center aims for less dependence on low-quality staple foods and instead emphasizes locally grown, more nutrient-dense food options. Partners include Confederated Salish and Kootenai (CSKT) Tribal Health, CSKT Food Sovereignty Initiative, Mission Mountain Food Enterprise, and Montana Growers Cooperative. Funding will support project personnel and a consultant who will help with project development and travel expenses.

Grant Amount

$60,000

Term

12 month

2021

Awe Kualawaache Care Center

Infection Control Training

This grant will provide infection control training for the Awe Kualawaache Care Center staff. The Care Center provides long-term care to the Crow Tribe and the surrounding community; its mission is to preserve culture between the elderly and youth. Funding will be used to purchase software to track infections and help the staff member who is leading this work enroll in an infection control certificate program.

Grant Amount

$3,000

Term

12 month

2020

Billings Clinic

American Indian Healthcare Advocate Program

This project provided outreach, information, and health insurance enrollment assistance to American Indian people residing on the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Reservations and the urban American Indian population residing in Billings. Through the American Indian Healthcare Advocate Program, outreach events, presentations, and informational materials were distributed to over 700 individuals with questions about Montana’s Medicaid expansion and how obtaining health insurance could increase their access to quality health care. Twenty-six people were directly enrolled in a health insurance product for which they were eligible but not yet enrolled and 177 people were assisted in the enrollment process. Additionally, a qualitative research project was initiated to gain insight into American Indian perceptions of health insurance and health care.

Grant Amount

$46,820

Term

12 month

2016

Blackfeet Community College

Trauma Informed Planning Grant

This two-part project will begin to create a trauma-informed campus on the Blackfeet Community College and disseminate a culturally-based, trauma-informed toolkit to other agencies on the reservation, and develop a feasibility and business plan for an integrated behavioral health student health center on campus. To create a trauma-informed campus, this project will train trainers in a culturally-based historical trauma curriculum, provide professional development in integrated care models, strengthen campus and community referral resources, create an action team, and provide support to students. The National Council for Behavioral Health will assist in creating a detailed strategic plan for implementing integrated behavioral health into the student health center. The goals for the student health center are for it to not only provide students with primary and behavioral healthcare screenings but also with space for behavioral health and nursing students to practice trauma-informed integrated health.

Grant Amount

$75,000

Term

12 month

2017

Blackfeet Tribal Health

School and Community Based Health Services for Blackfeet Youth

This grant allowed Blackfeet Tribal Health to plan for and establish a school-based clinic to serve students in Browning. During the grant, the tribe formed a successful collaboration with the school district, secured and renovated a building to house the clinic, and hired staff. In the fall of 2016, the new clinic (named the Southern Piegan School Health and Wellness Program) began seeing students. As of late 2017, the clinic had provided care to more than 1,500 students and was preparing to implement a new integrated behavioral health program. The clinic is fully self-sustaining through revenue from insurance billing and will not require grant support to maintain operations.

Grant Amount

$20,000

Term

24 month

2015

Blackfeet Tribal Health

Blackfeet Emergency Medical Services program

The Blackfeet EMS Program trained and certified three paramedics from Blackfeet Tribal Health’s emergency medical technician staff. With the advanced certifications, the Blackfeet EMS Program is now able to bill at a higher rate and will continue to expand its program. The revenue allowed the tribe to purchase three new ambulances with advanced equipment, which is helping the program to provide a higher level of service. By certifying their paramedic staff, the Blackfeet Tribe is addressing their workforce challenges and providing improved emergency response to the community. The program is sustainable through revenue generated from billing services.  

Grant Amount

$75,136

Term

24 month

2017

Blackfeet Tribal Health

Tribal Health Improvement Program

This project provided funding for a project coordinator position to help design and implement the Blackfeet Tribal Health’s Tribal Health Improvement Program (T-HIP). T-HIP is Montana’s innovative new Medicaid waiver program that provides per capita funding for tribes to address factors that contribute to health disparities in the American Indian population residing on the reservation. Our grant funded the project coordinator position for six months and allowed the tribe to develop and execute a task order with the State of Montana to begin implementing Tier 1 of the T-HIP program. Tier 1 of the T-HIP program addresses high utilizers of health care on the Blackfeet reservation and provides care coordination and outreach to this population. The tribe is now providing care management, health education and transportation to the Blackfeet community, and the program is entirely self-sustaining; they are now planning for Tier 2 of the T-HIP program.

Grant Amount

$42,000

Term

12 month

2017

Blackfeet Tribal Health

T-HIP Tier 1 Daphne Software Support

This project helped support the Blackfeet Tribe’s start-up costs for implementing the Tribal Health Improvement Program (T-HIP). The grant helped the tribe to purchase a software system (Daphne) designed to track T-HIP care management reporting measures. The grant also helped set up and staff the T-HIP office, develop their services, and sign a task order to begin Tier 1 services. Daphne is computer software for recording and reporting care management information for T-HIP and other care management initiatives. Now that the primary elements of the system are in place, the tribe will begin providing care management services to high–risk Medicaid recipients on the Blackfeet Reservation to improve health outcomes and reduce their reliance on high-cost emergency and hospital services. The program is sustainable through Medicaid T-HIP payments. 

Grant Amount

$12,000

2018

Blackfeet Tribal Health

Blackfeet Tribal Health 638 of the Community Health Education Program

The Blackfeet Tribal Health Department will work to assume management of its Community Health Education Program from the Indian Health Service (IHS) under Public Law 93-638 (this is often called the “638 process.”) This grant will help the health department complete a feasibility study and plan for assuming the Community Health Education Program; funds will help the Tribe hire a contractor to help with the 638 process. Adding the Community Health Education Program into the health department will help it achieve accreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board and coordinate a more robust portfolio of community health-related activities.

Grant Amount

$19,877

Term

12 month

2020

Blackfeet Tribe

Centralized Third Party Billing System

The Blackfeet Tribe created a centralized third-party billing office for their health system. The billing office allows the tribe to maximize revenue from the health services they provide and improve the financial management of revenue from third-party billing. The project hired a benefits coordinator and patient accounts coordinator to assess their current programs and identify billable services. The billing office collected over $2.5 million in revenue and provided referral services for Blackfeet Tribal Medicaid recipients for denture and brace services. The billing office is helping the tribe improve and expand health services to serve the needs of their community better and create a more fiscally stable, and sustainable structure for existing health programs. The office is sustainable through the revenue generated from billing services. 

Grant Amount

$100,000

Term

24 month

2016

Blackfeet Tribe

Blackfeet Partnership for Food Sovereignty Strategic Plan

The Blackfeet Agriculture Resource Management Plan (ARMP) completed a comprehensive, five-year food sovereignty strategic plan and began implementation. The project’s long-term goal is to work towards ending food insecurity and many of the problems implicit in disconnecting from traditional food sources. Objectives for the planning process included coordination of food production and delivery systems on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, creation of a Blackfeet food code, and development of measurement tools to track potential health changes due to interventions in the food and health system. As part of this project, the ARMP team began implementing a feasibility study for a Blackfeet Beef/Bison Processing Plant. They also received a five–year, $1 million grant from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research that will underwrite all the research objectives outlined in the food sovereignty strategic plan. Key partners include the Blackfeet Tribe, community partners, and the MSU Native Land Project.   

Grant Amount

$50,000

Term

12 month

2018

Browning Alternative School

Using Blackfeet Cultural Values to create a trauma informed school setting.

The goal of this project was to create a trauma-informed school program by training staff in trauma-informed approaches to school discipline using Blackfeet cultural values. The Browning Alternative School developed trauma-informed teams and implemented culturally-adapted critical incident stress management training so that the community could respond sustainably to crisis situations. Teams were equipped to quickly respond to crises and provide support for trauma and grief. The project also implemented restorative justice practices into the school system to elevate student voices and developed training units for cultural and historical trauma with accompanying resiliency strategies and resources. The trauma-informed program began in the Browning Alternative School and then extended to the entire school district.

Grant Amount

$15,000

Term

18 months

2015

Center Pole

Oosha Itchik/Healthy Food Systems

Through this grant, Center Pole successfully created a model for community-based food sovereignty and a traditional and healthy foods hub. They trained youth through community internships in food sovereignty, exposed hundreds of community members to growing and eating natural foods, completed a community food assessment survey, and used the survey findings to further development of the healthy foods hub. Center Pole was chosen as one of eight “changemaker” organizations in the Pacific Northwest by Philanthropy Northwest, and Center Pole’s Executive Director Peggy Wellknown Buffalo received an award for long-term excellence working in Indian Country from the Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples.

Grant Amount

$50,000

Term

24 month

2016

Center Pole

Using All Parts of the Buffalo: Better Reservation Health through Food Rescue and Recovery

Center Pole will collect fresh foods from Billings that are near expiration and distribute them to the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations. This collection and distribution will be done through a system created and implemented by the Center Pole’s community food interns. Funding will be used to pay the food interns and for transportation costs and storage as well as for Center Pole’s traditional food production. Partners for this project include Crow Abundance is Here, a local community collaboration whose member organizations include the National Center for Appropriate Technology, Plenty Doors, Messengers for Health, Crow Tribal Health, Little Big Horn College, the USDA, AmeriCorps, and Food Corps Montana. Other partners include the Crow and Northern Cheyenne elders and Billings Family Service. The goal of this project is to assist the Crow and Northern Cheyenne in healing themselves through food and creating a healthy sustainable food economy that is culturally relevant, reflects traditional values of reciprocity, self-sufficiency, team work, sharing, and zero waste and leads to better health and longer lives.

Grant Amount

$100,000

Term

24 month

2019

Center Pole

Increasing Capacity and Food Quality to Create a Healthy Culturally Based Reservation Food System

Center Pole is a Native-led organization serving the Crow Reservation and surrounding areas since 1999. It conducts community projects on food security, food sovereignty, sustainable development, and community development while preserving Indigenous knowledge. This project will improve, expand, and streamline Center Pole's capacity to procure, produce, store, and distribute healthy foods. To do this, Center Pole will enhance its food warehouse and delivery system, educate staff on handling food procurement, storage, and distribution, and support local and traditional food entrepreneurs and community growers. Partners include Hopa Mountain Strengthening the Circle, Apsaalooke Abundance, and the Helping Hands Food Bank. Funding will primarily support staff to run the program and startup costs for Center Pole's service expansion.

Grant Amount

$60,000

Term

12 month

2021

Chippewa Cree Tribe

Rocky Boy Food Sovereignty Project

Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation is in the remote Bear Paws mountains of North Central Montana. The remote location has contributed to a food desert on the Reservation, with the nearest grocery store selling fresh foods over 30 miles away. The Chippewa-Cree Tribe's Rocky Boy Food Sovereignty Project will develop a food chain of healthy products grown and produced on the Reservation. The project will help plant gardens, develop and market new value-added food products such as flour and pasta, and establish food handling laws. Locally grown and raised food products will be branded and made available to the community. Funding will help the purchase tools to support the food packaging and support a project coordinator who will develop and implement the program and build toward financial sustainability. Partners include the Stone Child College, the Rocky Boy Diabetes Program, Rocky Boy Public Schools, and the Chippewa Cree Agriculture and Sustainability Program team, which will serve as a board oversight for the project.

Grant Amount

$60,000

Term

12 month

2021

CSKT Tribal Health Department

Understanding and Utilization of Health Care Resources on the Flathead Indian Reservation

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal (CSKT) Health Department accomplished all objectives for this project. Through public law 638 they assumed the Indian Health Service budget for purchased and referred care and now manage the entirety of this program for the tribe. The grant funding allowed the CSKT Health Department to provide Medicaid and insurance outreach and enrollment services to clients of the Flathead reservations. Seven outreach events were held throughout the course of the project and enrollment in Medicaid and private insurance, employee plans, and marketplace plans continuously increased. Finally, CSKT trained providers and patients on the new coverage approach and on how to effectively use health care coverage.

Grant Amount

$100,000

Term

24 month

2015

CSKT Tribal Health Department

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Health Integrated Behavioral Health Program

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe (CSKT) Tribal Health Department developed a detailed strategic plan to integrate behavioral health into primary care and to train their current behavioral health staff and primary care providers on conducting motivational interviews and brief interventions. With the established protocol, screening tools, and a workflow plan in place, primary care and behavioral health providers are now able to consult with one another regarding behavior change for preventable disease as well as for indications of mental illness and substance abuse problems. As part of the project, CSKT also piloted a daily “huddle” to improve communication and introduce behavioral health staff into the primary care clinic. They found this to be positive and have an immediate impact on patient care and outcomes. It created a collegial and friendly environment between staff teams and resulted in successful warm hand-offs, brief interventions, and the establishment of ongoing care. Due to leadership and staff turnover, they have experienced challenges in the progression of an integrated model. The project also allowed a team of 12 program directors to travel to the SouthCentral Foundation in Alaska for a site visit and training. 

Grant Amount

$35,000

Term

12 month

2016

Day Eagle Hope Project

Aaniiih/Nakoda Food Sovereignty on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation

The Day Eagle Hope Project is a Native nonprofit on the Fort Belknap reservation that addresses the disparities specific to cancer prevention, treatment, and management. It is a state-certified food bank, providing healthy, quality foods to the Reservation and surrounding area. This project will bring together community partners to provide food delivery services and education for the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and surrounding community. The food bank will work to reintroduce native and organic foods back into the community. It will also provide education alongside healthful foods to address further the health disparities in rates of chronic illnesses. Funding will help purchase fresh foods for the food bank, support transportation costs, and build community partnerships, specifically with Tribal Health. Partners include the Fort Belknap Indian Community, which will help with food delivery services, and the Fort Belknap Tribal Health Department, which will provide healthy eating and living education.

Grant Amount

$60,000

Term

12 month

2021

Eagle Shield Center

The Blackfeet Community Hospice Project

This planning project supported the establishment of a partnership among tribal agencies on the Blackfeet reservation who will collaborate toward developing hospice services for the community and provided a one-day workshop to educate the Blackfeet community about hospice and end-of-life care. Since 2007, Blackfeet community members and a researcher from Montana State University have been collaborating on end-of-life experiences among Blackfeet people using a participatory approach. The partnership includes the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, the Eagle Shield Center, the Blackfeet Tribal Health Department, Tribal Planning, Blackfeet Community College, Blackfeet Family and Child Services, Indian Health Service, and the Tribal Diabetes Clinic. At the conclusion of this project, solid partnerships had been established; the workshop on available hospice services in the Blackfeet community increased the community’s knowledge of end-of-life care needs and services. Eagle Shield Center will continue to work towards establishing hospice services through the new partnerships and advisory committee.

Grant Amount

$26,262

Term

12 month

2017

Families First Learning Lab

Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribe Family Education Services

The Families First Children’s Museum (FFCM) will provide family education classes and resources for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal (CSKT) community intended to foster healing and help develop resilient communities. The project will introduce new, relevant, and evidence-based curricula within three separate tracks: parents/caregivers, foster parents, and childcare providers. Funding will be used to hire native instructors and support curriculum development. Through current partnerships with CSKT, the Department of Human Resource Development, and Salish Kootenai College, as well as growth in collaboration with the Tribal Health Department, Tribal Education Department, local childcare providers, and organizations like the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, FFCM’s work will extend to reach more families and create connections between parent education skill development and a stronger family resource network.

Grant Amount

$26,118

Term

12 month

2019

Fast Blackfeet

Sustaining Food Security with MNT Service Delivery

Fast Blackfeet is working to address two crucial health problems in the Blackfeet Nation: food insecurity and nutrition-related illnesses (like diabetes). Fast Blackfeet is a Native-led nonprofit focused on nutrition, strengthening the local food system, and supporting a food bank on the Blackfeet reservation. For this project, Fast Blackfeet will work with consultants to explore sustainability for their Food Pharmacy Program, which is currently entirely grant funded. The Food Pharmacy Program allows providers to refer patients to the food bank for specialized foods to meet specific dietary requirements (such as a diabetic diet), counseling with a nutritionist, and vouchers for fresh fruits and vegetables. Fast Blackfeet will develop a partnership with Blackfeet Tribal Health to establish third-party billing for services provided by nutritionists and dietitians. Funding will be used for consultants to complete business and sustainability plans and to provide guidance around the partnership with Blackfeet Tribal Health.

Grant Amount

$19,250

Term

12 month

2021

Fast Blackfeet

Working Toward a Healthy, Food Secure Blackfeet Nation

FAST Blackfeet is a Native-led nonprofit organization that works to increase food access, reduce food insecurity, and improve nutritional intake and knowledge in the Blackfeet Nation. The O'yo'p' Food Pantry is a vital hub for FAST Blackfeet programs. It makes nutritious food readily available to Blackfeet families and aids in chronic disease prevention through clinics and dietitian counseling. This project will support the food pantry's growth and the development and sustainability of its operations infrastructure. Funding will support hiring additional personnel and help offset the costs of expanding the food pantry to meet the community's needs. Project partners include HOPA Mountain, Browning Public Schools, Glacier Family Foods, and the Montana Food Bank Network.

Grant Amount

$60,000

Term

12 month

2021

Fort Belknap Tribal Health

Centralized Billing Capacity Building Project

This project will help establish Fort Belknap’s centralized billing department by expanding the range of billable services and establishing internal controls to ensure legal compliance. The revenue generated will support prevention programs and help the tribe assume management of their behavioral health services from the Indian Health Service. Funding will also be used to hire a consultant to assess the revenue cycle process, controls and operations, and recommend specific improvements.

Grant Amount

$65,000

Term

24 month

2017

Fort Belknap Tribal Health

Diabetes Care Clinic

This grant supported the Fort Belknap Indian Community to develop a Diabetic Care Clinic to provide high-quality, consistent, comprehensive, and culturally appropriate care to residents of the reservation who are diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes. The clinic, which has been fully functional since 2017 and has provided more than 500 diabetic care visits, helps patients gain the knowledge and skills needed to make adjustments to their diet, exercise, and medication for optimal health and quality of life. The establishment of an independent, tribally run health board to administer the clinic and provide governance and oversight to the program is in its final stages, with the majority of health board members selected. Third-party billing processes and procedures were developed to sustain the new clinic and services. The clinic continues to increase its client base and is working towards care coordination agreements with Veteran Affairs and Medicare to increase revenue to support the services.

Grant Amount

$90,000

Term

24 month

2017

Fort Belknap Tribes

Fort Belknap Indian Community Dialysis Center Feasibility Study and Business Plan

The Fort Belknap Indian Community will complete a study to determine theneed for andfeasibility ofdeveloping adialysis servicefor the community. They plan towork with FortBelknap Tribal Health and Indian Health Service to understand how many dialysis patients reside on the reservation. As part of the study, they will also visit other tribal dialysis programs in the state.Funding will be used to supportstaff time to complete the study, travel expenses to visit other dialysis programs,and water testingto determineif Fort Belknap’scurrent water supply cansupport the unit and potential treatment options.

Grant Amount

$29,425

Term

12 month

2019

Fort Belknap Tribes

Billings Area Community Health Aide Program

With this grant, the Fort Belknap Indian Community plans to extend Tribal self-governance and support the Community Health Aid Program (CHAP). To do this, the Tribe will build on the existing foundation of state and federal CHAP statutes and authorities granted to Tribal sovereign entities. Partners include all the Tribes in Montana, the Governor's Office, the state legislature, the Tribal Caucus, and Tribal colleges and universities. Grant funds will provide technical assistance to each Tribal area delegate and support the Billings Area Certification Board and the Academic Review Committee. Once established, the CHAP program will increase access to medical, dental, and behavioral health providers on the reservations. It will also provide local training to help retain the Tribal community workforce.

Grant Amount

$75,000

Term

12 month

2020

Fort Peck Tribal Health Department

Third Party Billing Project

This project will develop a plan and supporting documents, train key staff, and develop partnerships to maximize third-party revenue generation for the Fort Peck Tribal Health Department. The project will work across tribal health programs and in close coordination with tribal and non-tribal partners including MT DPHHS, Indian Health Services, North Eastern Montana Health Services, Spotted Bull Treatment Center, Red Bird Woman Center, Fort Peck Tribes Veteran Affairs Office, Fort Peck Tribal Supplemental Health Insurance Program, Fort Peck Health Promotion Disease Prevention Program, and Fort Peck Transportation Department. The project will generate revenue from tribal health services that will be used to strengthen current services and address health facility needs.

Grant Amount

$149,572

Term

24 month

2018

Fort Peck Tribal Health Department

Fort Peck Needle Exchange Program

This project revived the Needle Exchange Program that operated on the Fort Peck Reservation from the summer of 2009 to January 2012 and expanded it to provide injection drug users with clean needles, education, sharps containers for safe disposal of needles, and referrals to addictions counseling if needed. As one of the first and only needle exchange programs operated in a rural reservation in the US, Fort Peck’s employed a unique and successful protocol. The project’s main goal is to reduce the transmission of blood-borne illnesses such as hepatitis C and HIV. This program successfully now serves more than 200 clients on the Fort Peck Reservation and will be sustained indefinitely through a HRSA grant.

Grant Amount

$50,000

Term

24 month

2015

Fort Peck Tribal Health Department

Rapid HIV and HCV Testing Services

This project expanded Fort Peck’s current needle exchange program to provide testing services for HIV and hepatitis C (HCV). With 446 cases of HCV between 2011 and 2015, the HCV rates on Fort Peck are among the highest in the state and six times the national rate. HIV screenings were successfully provided at an annual community-wide screening (which was also available to non-Native community members), and the adult and juvenile correction facilities. In addition to providing screenings for injection drug users in the community, the project also successfully facilitated new collaborations with county and state health agencies including the tribal corrections facilities, the Roosevelt County Health Department, and Indian Health Services.

Grant Amount

$50,000

Term

24 month

2016

Fort Peck Tribes - Spotted Bull Recovery Resource Center

Fort Peck Substance Abuse Inpatient Treatment Center Development Project

For this project, the Fort Peck Tribes developed business and strategic plans along with a detailed cost analysis to guide the establishment of a new inpatient chemical dependency treatment center to compliment Spotted Bull Recovery Center’s current outpatient facility on the Fort Peck Reservation. When built, the center will be able to provide inpatient treatment services to Native American patients from the Fort Peck region as well as non-Native patients and will eventually expand to include other tribes throughout the state. This planning project was successfully completed through a partnership that included the tribal action plan committee, the tribal executive board, the tribal health department, tribal courts, and the law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction on the reservation. The completed plans provided the Fort Peck Executive Committee with enough information to approve the next phase of the project.

Grant Amount

$50,000

Term

24 month

2016

Fort Peck Tribes - Spotted Bull Recovery Resource Center

Tatanka Gdes’ka Capacity Building Project

Spotted Bull Recovery and Resource Center (SBRRC) used this grant to establish a self-sustaining inpatient treatment center on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, with a focus on methamphetamine use disorder. The goal was to ensure that those with medical and mental illnesses complicating a methamphetamine addiction can receive comprehensive, effective treatment. This project successfully achieved all its primary objectives. SBRRC employees received training in peer recovery support, program management, integrated behavioral health principles, and medication-assisted treatment. A full-time staff member was hired and trained to conduct third-party billing to help sustain the center. SBRRC upgraded its infrastructure to meet in-patient treatment standards and received state licensure and JCAHO/CARF certification. And SBRRC partnered with other organizations to raise awareness about the need for a treatment facility, conduct community outreach, and encourage community members to take ownership of the problem and get involved in the planning process. Providing the long-term programming needed by the community was a challenge since most billable hours for treatment are only within the 30- to 90-day range. But SBRRC addressed this by allowing clients needing more treatment to keep receiving outpatient services and housing support as they transition back into the community. Three additional federal grants totaling $2,981,018 were awarded to SBRRC to support the program.

Grant Amount

$150,000

Term

24 month

2017

Fort Peck Tribes Health Promotion Disease Prevention Program

Staff Recruitment and Telemedicine Systems Project

This project’s goal was to develop long-term, innovative solutions to the critical shortage of health providers on the Fort Peck Reservation. The project successfully developed formal agreements with Yale Children’s Psychiatric Center and Harvard to provided behavioral health services using telemedicine, and the MSU-Bozeman School of Nursing to send students as part of their curriculum to assist in school-based health centers. Recruiting relationships for health care professionals were also strengthened with Yale, Harvard, UM and Wala Wala. With the help of more effective recruitment and retention methods, Fort Peck HPDP is better equipped to bring quality health care to their community.

Grant Amount

$25,000

Term

24 month

2015

Fort Peck Tribes Health Promotion Disease Prevention Program

The 23rd IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion

The Fort Peck Health Promotion Disease Prevention Program staff participated in the 23rd UIHPE World Conference on Health Promotion in New Zealand, along with 70 other countries. At the conference, the staff gave a multi-media presentation and learned about indigenous food and fitness initiatives from around the world. When they returned, they shared what they learned with other tribes in Montana, Minnesota, and North Dakota. The staff who attended the conference are also continuing to use what they learned to inform the Healthy Foods Healthy Living Family Program (established as part of Fort Peck’s T-HIP program). This program is working to improve childhood nutrition and fitness and counter the community’s food deserts.

Grant Amount

$15,500

Term

12 month

2019

Hays Lodgepole School District 50

Fort Belknap Indian Community Homeless Youth Feasibility Study

For this project, the Hays-Lodgepole Public School and the Fort Belknap Indian Community Council assessed the feasibility of designing, constructing, operating, and facilitating housing and supportive services to improve health and education outcomes for homeless youth on the Fort Belknap Reservation. The project successfully created 15 new community partnerships bringing together tribal leadership, community members, and youth over the course of 10 planning meetings. The finalized feasibility study includes two site options for the youth shelter along with an overall floor and feasibility plan that will allow the tribal planners to seek funding for the second phase of the project which will involve the construction of the facility.

Grant Amount

$49,000

Term

12 month

2017

Heart Butte Schools

Feather Woman Healing Lodge Business Plan

Heart Butte School District will contract with RJS & Associates, Inc. (RJS) to develop a business plan for a new facility, the Feather Woman Healing Lodge, to serve students who are homeless or experiencing mental health crises. Heart Butte is a community in the Blackfeet Nation. The school district has purchased two modular homes to be used as a youth shelter that will serve up to 12 students (six girls and six boys) at a time. The business plan will address staffing needs, operation and maintenance costs, insurance costs, risk management, potential funding sources, and other operational infrastructure needed for the facility. Heart Butte Schools currently has a school-based health center provided by the Tribe through the Southern Piegan Clinic. This new facility will strengthen the partnership with Southern Piegan and build a stronger continuum of care for students needing more intensive services and safe shelter.

Grant Amount

$25,000

Term

12 month

2021

Helena Indian Alliance

Sheridan Hall Structural Assessment

This grant will allow Helena Indian Alliance to hire an architect and professional engineering team to review and structurally assess Helena Indian Alliance’s building for the purposes of expanding and adding new programs. Helena Indian Alliance has seen a significant increase in demand for services such as general health care, case management, mental health services, substance use, and various other programs. The project will produce a finalized structural assessment that can be combined with their existing preliminary architectural report (also funded by MHCF) and used to secure financing a renovation and expansion project. For this project, the Helena Indian Alliance is partnering with Montana Business Assistance Connection and Montana Facility Finance Authority.

Grant Amount

$26,000

Term

12 month

2018

Helena Indian Alliance

Development of Best Practices for Excellence in Opiate Dependence Treatment

This project created a best practice manual for the treatment of opioid use disorders utilizing medication-assisted treatment (MAT). The project successfully designed and implemented a registry for capturing the treatment data of individuals suffering from opiate and methamphetamine use disorders. The purpose of the data collection is to correlate treatment approaches with long-term outcomes. While there has been a tremendous increase in MAT for opiate and other substance use disorders, there remain many important open questions about the details of treatment over an extended period and the outcomes associated with differences in treatment approach. Registries such as this can become an important tool in determining answers and molding evolving therapy.

Grant Amount

$20,000

Term

18 months

2015

Helena Indian Alliance

Master Plan

This project resulted in the production of a preliminary architecture report that the organization will use as a guide for building renovations and for developing additional health services including dental and pharmacy. The report was also used it to seek funding for a Community Development Block Grant. Their project was not selected for block grant funding in 2018, however, they will continue looking for future opportunities.

Grant Amount

$25,000

Term

12 month

2016

Helena Indian Alliance

New Clinic Addition/Design

Helena Indian Alliance (HIA) is an urban Indian health center based in Helena and serving the surrounding counties. This grant will support project management during a clinic remodel and expansion that will enable HIA to provide integrated physical, behavioral, and dental services for patients. Funding will allow HIA to contract with SMA Architects to complete the clinic design and provide oversight and project management throughout the construction process. HIA is located in what used to be the U.S. Army Reserves Sheridan Hall building, and this project builds on two prior Montana Healthcare Foundation grants that helped HIA plan and prepare for this critically-needed remodel. The first grant, in 2017, created a master plan looking at how HIA could improve and expand the services they provide to their patients by updating the layout of their building. The second grant in 2018 helped HIA complete a structural assessment of the building, which was necessary before this construction could begin. HIA has secured financing for this project, estimated at roughly $1.1 million. By updating their building, HIA will be better equipped to implement high quality, integrated care, expand the services they can provide, and better address the health needs in their community.

Grant Amount

$85,750

Term

24 month

2021

Helena Indian Alliance

Integrated Behavioral Health for Urban Indian Center

Helena Indian Alliance will implement integrated behavioral health in their primary care clinic and behavioral health department. As part of this project, they will perform evidence-based screenings for behavioral health disorders in their primary care clinic, train their staff on screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment for substance use disorders (SBIRT). They will also implement integrated services and make referrals for behavioral health on the same day that a patient presents to the medical clinic. The warm handoff model will be used for primary care as well as behavioral health to ensure treatment for the whole person at each visit. Grant funds will be used for training and implementation of the project, hiring a care coordinator or behavioral health provider for the clinic, providing psychiatric consultation, and developing sustainability. The project’s goal is for the integrated behavioral health model to be a permanent and lasting resource in the clinic and community.

Grant Amount

$150,000

Term

24 month

2019

Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana

Strategic Planning for Little Shell Tribal Departments

The Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana is the newly federally recognized Tribe of the Ojibwe people. Its service area includes Cascade, Blaine, Hill, and Glacier counties. This strategic planning project will help the Tribe begin developing a high-quality, effective health system by supporting the Tribe to create a mission and vision to meet the needs of its people and by providing expert technical assistance on health system design, infrastructure development, and operations. The Little Shell Tribe will model its new health system on Alaska Southcentral Foundation's award-winning NUKA System of Care. Funding will support a contract with the Southcentral Foundation to provide technical assistance and training throughout the planning process and the early stages of implementation. The project will be completed through close collaboration among the Little Shell Tribal Council, Tribal staff, and community members.

Grant Amount

$196,542

Term

24 month

2021

Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana

Montana Native American Girl Centered Empowerment Project

The Little Shell Tribe assisted tribes and urban Indian health centers across the state to plan and implement girl-centered, protective asset programs, and to train mentors in each tribal community in Montana. The project focused on building ‘protective assets’ which are strengths and skills that can help young women stay safer, conquer crisis, and better plan for the future. The project hosted two well attended camps and several workshops and held group calls with representation from each tribe and urban Indian health center and trained mentors. The mentors will continue to work across the state through the Tribal Tobacco Prevention Program. The protective asset program expects to improve the self-confidence of Native American girls and provide skill building training that could lower the chances of experiencing adverse childhood experiences and improve school performance.

Grant Amount

$15,000

Term

12 month

2018

Messengers for Health

Traditional Relationships Improve Contemporary Health

For this project, Messengers for Health worked to broaden their cancer screening outreach program (which previously focused on women) to include colon cancer screening for men and implemented a culturally-based chronic illness self-management program. Messengers for Health is a non-profit organization on the Crow Indian Reservation and has been working in cancer screening since 1996, in partnership with Professor Suzanne Christopher at Montana State University, using a community-based participatory research framework. For the cancer screening outreach project, several Crow Indian men were successfully recruited and trained to serve as health advisors for their communities. These men helped spread the word about colorectal cancer awareness and the importance of early screening to prevent colon cancer. In addition, the chronic illness self-management project successfully began facilitating an intervention with their first group of participants. Participants attended sessions on topics including gaining a better understanding of chronic illness, promoting self-advocacy, and improving personal self-care. Antidotally, participants expressed benefits to their overall health due to the support group intervention activities. Both programs represent new areas of outreach and intervention for the Crow community.

Grant Amount

$50,000

Term

24 month

2015

Messengers for Health

Indigenous Evaluation and Dissemination of the Báa Nnilah Project

Messengers for Health works to improve the health of people living on the Crow Indian Reservation and outlying areas through community-based projects designed to empower communities to address their unique health issues. For this project, Messengers for Health will partner with two Tribal nations to adapt, implement, and evaluate a chronic disease self-management program – “Báa nnilah” – the grantee developed on the Crow reservation program. The evaluation will help the grantee and tribal partners adapt Báa nnilah for the specific needs of these Tribes, and it will help establish Báa nnilah as an evidence-based program, making it potentially reimbursable through the Tribal Health Improvement Program and providing sustainability for the project over the long term. Partners include Crow, Fort Belknap, and Rocky Boy Indian Reservations. Funding will support community members from the three communities to come together and develop the evaluation plan, support the adaptation of program manuals, and implement and evaluate the program in each community.

Grant Amount

$99,695

Term

24 month

2021

Montana Generational Justice Foundation

Estate Planning to Prevent Health Care Exploitation and Fraud

The Montana Generational Justice Foundation partnered with hospitals and health care organizations across the state to provide legal services to patients. The services they offered patients included estate planning, health care power of attorney, and advanced directives. The grant’s advisory committee (with representatives from the Montana Hospital Association, Helena College Nursing Program, Veterans Affairs, the National Guard, medical providers, and lawyers) created an advanced directive document for statewide use. The advanced directive document will be available on the MSU Extension Services website. As part of this project, the Montana Generational Justice Foundation also created an initial sustainability plan to offer legal services at health care clinics across the state using a set fee covered by the health organization.

Grant Amount

$30,000

Term

12 month

2019

Montana State University - Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity

Responding to Secondary Trauma Among Blackfeet Victim Service Providers

This project’s goal was to serve American Indian social service employees who support victims of domestic violence, elder abuse, child abuse and neglect, sexual assault, and other forms of trauma. As part of this project, a toolkit was successfully created to mitigate the effects of secondary trauma among social service providers. Secondary trauma is recognized as an occupational hazard that contributes to health problems and burnout among victim service providers. The community advisory board met two-dozen times over the course of the grant to evaluate project and ensure the toolkit’s cultural relevance. A training on how to use the toolkit, using a train-the-trainer model, was held with over 50 people in attendance. Following the initial training, the project team received six requests for additional trainings and those trainings are currently being planned. Quantitative data analysis showed that the training resulted in statistically significant increases in awareness, knowledge, and normalization of secondary trauma and a statistically significant increases in awareness of coping strategies to reduce the impacts of secondary trauma among American Indian service providers who were trained to use the toolkit. Organizations engaged in this project have expressed their desire to make organizational changes to reduce the impacts of secondary trauma.

Grant Amount

$25,000

Term

24 month

2016

Mountain Shadow Association

Kaala’s Village Development Project

Mountain Shadow Association (MSA) will move a planned family healing center on the Crow reservation (Kaala’s Village) from the feasibility study phase into the development phase. MSA will hire a supportive housing consultant to help them with the development. The project will be informed and guided by a community-based advisory board that will meet monthly to receive updates on the developer’s work plan progress and ensure that the project remains grounded in the values, needs, and vision of the community and remains focused on meeting the immediate integrated health care needs of local families. Grant funds will be used to convene the advisory board and contract with BeauxSimone Consulting to assist MSA and the advisory board in solidifying a development team, finalizing the concept plan, identifying a property management company, and securing additional funding for Kaala’s Village (‘Kaala’ is the Crow word for ‘grandmother’). Partners that are committed to participating in the advisory board include the Apsaalooke Nation Housing Authority, the City of Lodge Grass, Plenty Doors Community Develop Corps, the Casey Family Foundation, Big Horn Valley Health Center, Tribal Legislative Health and Human Services Committee, Tribal IQWA Coordinator, Indian Health Services, Lodge Grass Schools PTO, peer support specialists, USDA Rural Development, and Meadowlark Counseling. The grantee hopes to create a final conceptual model that can support a successful capital campaign and integrate appropriate partners, resulting in the full implementation of Kaala’s Village.

Grant Amount

$50,000

Term

12 month

2019