We are resilient. Our ways are resilient.
Mission Statement
To support and advocate for Tribal sovereignty and unmet Tribal needs and to improve the health and cultural well-being of American Indians and Alaska Natives through collaborating, convening, advocacy, public education, technical assistance, program development and delivery, and resource sharing which may include financial support to Tribes, Urban Indian programs authorized under Title V of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, and Indian health care providers.
Our Story
We honor tribal sovereignty and the uniqueness of each Tribe and Tribal community as the highest principles. We encourage a shared responsibility for the health of our communities. We honor the importance of culture as our way of life and as a key to wellness.
Those are AIHC values.
Disparities in health outcomes for Native Americans have been part of our history for more than 200 years. Yet, we are resilient.
Following the enactment of the Washington State Health Services Act of 1993 Washington State Health Services Act: Implementing Comprehensive Health Care Reform (nih.gov) (which was repealed in 1995), Department of Health (DOH) awarded the Squaxin Island Tribe a grant to host the State-Tribal Leaders Health Summit in August of 1994. Representatives from 15 federally recognized Tribes, four of eight unrecognized Tribes, eight Indian organizations, then-Governor Mike Lowry, and key state agency directors participated in the three-day summit.
The participants concluded that state health policy issues required an ongoing Tribal presence in order to ensure policy decisions reflect the AIHC values of sovereignty, shared responsibility for the health of our communities, and honoring our ways, our culture, as a key to health and wellness.
Jamestown SāKlallam Chairman Ron Allen wrote to each Tribe in the state requesting that they review and comment on issue papers developed during the summit and that they pass tribal resolutions in support of the American Indian Health Commission (AIHC).
The initial AIHC meeting was held in October 1994. The group decided that rather than being an advisory committee to the state, it would form a commission with delegates from each Tribe. By-laws developed over the following nine months resolved the issue of how to include non-federally recognized Tribes and urban Indian health clinics by establishing six āat-largeā seatsātwo for Urban Indian Health Organizations (UHIOs) and four to allow for representation for individual American Indian and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) living in Washington state.
In 1997, the AIHC Executive Committee met with the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB) and DOH to discuss how to strengthen AIHC and implement the American Indian Health Care Delivery Plan. As a result of that meeting, DOH entered into a contract with the Jamestown SāKlallam Tribe to staff AIHC so it could focus on developing policies that respected Tribal sovereignty and our ways.
In 2003 the Jamestown SāKlallam Tribe received funding from the Indian Health Service Office of Self-Governance to support the work of AIHC as a model for Tribal-state collaboration on health care issues. This funding has allowed AIHC to have a full-time staff member for the first time in its history and has contributed to growth in its activities and success.
AIHC generally holds a full-day quarterly meeting. Agenda topics focus on addressing opportunities and challenges for tribal-state collaboration. Meeting notices and agendas are posted to the AIHC Calendar. The focus is on interactive discussion between AIHC members and presenters, with the goal of building bridges and resolving outstanding concerns. Discussion is open to delegates and to meeting attendees. Simple parliamentary procedure is followed when delegates take official action, though the emphasis is on reaching decisions through consensus.
The authority and strength of AIHC is derived from its member Tribes and UHIOs, each naming delegates to the Commission.
We are resilient. Our ways are resilient.
Many, many people helped bring the AIHC into being. We would like to honor those people who without their work, the AIHC would not have come into existence.
W. Ron Allen, Chair Jamestown SāKlallam Tribe, for engaging with The Washington State tribes to establish the AIHC and over the years has allowed the AIHC to be staffed through the JST.
Kristine Locke, consultant for the Jamestown SāKlallam Tribe, who helped write the bylaws and worked with Ron to get the organizational structure in place.
Dan Gleason, Chehalis Tribe; Rose Purser, Port Gamble SāKlallam Tribe and Rod Smith, Puyallup Tribe who reviewed and edited the by-laws .
Joe Finkbonner, Lummi Tribe, was the first chair after Ron Allen.
Coleen Cawston, Colville Tribe was the first secretary and helped draft and chaired the authoring of the American Indian Health Care Delivery Plan.
Kristine Locke was unofficial staff for AIHC from 1994 to 2003.
In 2003, Rebecca Johnston Donovan was hired as the first paid executive director.
She was followed by Deb Sosa from 2006 to 2007, then Sheryl Lowe from 2007 through 2012.
Vicki Lowe has been the executive director of the AIHC since 2015.