Dear Tribes and Tribal Members,
Last month we celebrated Veteran’s Day. We would like to express our appreciation to past, present, and future service men and women for your sacrifices and dedication to our country. In addition, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving surrounded by loved ones.
Last October, we selected Architect of Alaska to design the CAIHC expansion. The design meetings started early November. As we are designing our future facility it provides us an opportunity to look back. Not only to recall what we could have done better with the past design but to also reflect on our successes. Just to share a couple of those successes since we started seeing patients in December 2012. Since that time we provided over a million medical encounters. Most recently we paid off the bonds/loan that was used to construct the facility. By paying off this debt early, we saved $70.4 million. The money we saved will now be used to pay the new payment.
What I’m most satisfied about is when our leadership gave us the authority to construct our current medical facility they said “don’t forget about us”. Since then, we assisted in the construction of seven clinics, renovating two others and now started building Manley’s clinic with material traveling to Evansville this spring. Additionally, we added 150 rural jobs at approximately $5.6 million reoccurring each year, cultural camp $1.3 million, each of our 37 federal recognized tribe received $608,000 in unrestricted funds from TCC that totaled $22 million. The above list is a just a small example of how TCC has infused our communities with real cash to help the local economy’s
Last month, TCC held a two-day Behavioral Health and Hunting Fishing Task Force Summit and Full Board of Director’s meeting. The meeting provided the opportunity for delegates and tribal members to voice their concerns and guide TCC in developing solutions for the issues our region is currently facing. On the last day of the meetings the Full Board of Directors passed a new TCC policy – “Board of Directors Drug and Alcohol Policy”. This new policy will require candidates who wish to run for seats on our Executive Board and Health Board to submit and pass a drug screening one week prior to elections.
I would like to wish you and your family Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Please have a safe and warm holiday season!
As always, all of us here at TCC continue to work towards our vision of Healthy, Strong, Unified Tribes.
Ana Bassee,
Victor Joseph
Chief/Chairman