Sunday, June 1, 2025
6/1/2025
San Diego American Indian Health Center Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment, and Aftercare Program. - The San Diego American Indian Health Center (SDAIHC) is an independent, nonprofit, Indian -controlled healthcare organization that was established in 1979 to provide multidisciplinary, comprehensive outpatient medical, dental, and behavioral health services to Urban American Indians and Alaskan Natives. The clinic was founded as an Urban Indian Health Organization (UIHO) under Title V of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. SDAIHC also now operates as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) under section 330 of the Public Health Services Act. Our mission is to promote excellence in healthcare with respect to custom and tradition. Our goal is to reduce the significant health disparities of San Diego’s Urban American Indian population by increasing access to care and improving the quality of that care, resulting in increased life expectancy and improved quality of life. We are the only UIHO in the eighth largest metropolitan region in the United States. Our proposed SAPTA program will extend the success of the clinic’s former MSPI funding, using an innovative approach to substance abuse prevention, its treatment, and to aftercare. As an Urban MSSA sharing a border with Tijuana, Mexico, SDAIHC is located near the busiest border crossing in the world – and one of the largest drug trafficking corridors in the United States. Opioids, methamphetamine, and marijuana all feature prominently in the challenges that our region faces. Since the funding of our prior MSPI grant, they have been significant changes in substance use disorder patterns afflicting San Diego County. At the time our MSPI proposal was written, methamphetamine overdose deaths were recognized as a crisis, having written from 3.7 individuals per 100,000 in the population to 5.4 individuals per 100,000 – a 45% increase. We were and remain grateful that IHS recognized the significance of the problem, and our Behavioral Health department’s capacity has improved significantly thanks to MSPI funding. Today, methamphetamine use remains above 2019 levels; however, opioid addiction is now our region’s greatest problem. In the 92091 ZIP Code, which is part of SDAIHC’s target service area, the age-adjusted opioid overdose rate currently stands at 1,189 individuals per 100,000 and the population. In short, our clients’ and our community’s need for SAPTA services has never been greater. We are hopeful that IHS will be able to assist us as we strive to meet the current challenge. The program we propose features enhancement to patient screening, designed to reliably recognize those at risk for substance abuse. It includes enhanced psychiatry effort, and enhanced effort from a psychiatric nurse practitioner. Our approach additionally uses a Public Health Nurse to provide Assertive Community Treatment Intensive Case Management, an evidence-based approach, to the treatment and aftercare needs of Native SAPTA clients. We also seek to improve the integration of our Prevention Early Intervention Youth Center (funded by the County of San Diego) with our SAPTA care continuum, whilst enhancing the Youth Center’s Generation Indigenous initiative. We seek to significantly improve prevention among youth, so that we can reduce the need for treatment and aftercare in future generations.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).