Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending - Construction - The proposed new Lassen Indian Health Center (LIHC) - the basis of this application - is a replacement project for our current health center located within the Susanville Indian Rancheria (SIR’s) Lower Rancheria property. The Susanville Indian Rancheria is made up of the American Indian people living in the region from time immemorial: the Maidu, Paiute, Pit River and the Washoe were provided 30 acres of land under the U.S. 1923 Homeless and Landless Indian Act and became the Susanville Indian Rancheria. In 1991, the Susanville Indian Rancheria leaders’ vision for providing access to health care was to provide one small area for dental services. An antiquated miner’s home was converted into a dental office. Over time, the LIHC added several other sections to include primary health care, behavioral health, and a pharmacy. Today, services at our current location at 795 Joaquin St in the lower Rancheria at 13,332 sq. ft. isn’t adequate to support equipment upgrades and the additional space (exam and dental rooms) which are very much needed to meet the demand of our population which includes a growing number of American Indian/ Alaska Natives and non-Indian patients. The LIHC has become the provider of choice in the community and surrounding communities. The proposed new Lassen Indian Health Center (LIHC) will be built on six acres of land in the Upper Rancheria on a larger parcel of 875 acres of Trust land provided to Susanville Indian Rancheria in 2004. The location of this parcel is northwest of the intersection of California State Highway No. 139 and Spring Ridge Road in the town of Susanville, California located in Lassen County in Northeastern California. It will be a 57,284 sq. ft. comprehensive primary care and outpatient medical center that will serve American Indians/Alaska Natives and Non-Natives in the I.H.S. service area of Lassen, and Plumas and Modoc Counties and provide a wider range of medical services that are only currently found in the closest city, Reno, Nevada 87 miles south one way. It is planned to be a state-of-the-art, energy-efficient facility that will be a comprehensive primary care and outpatient medical center providing quality medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmaceutical, physical therapy and optometry. It is designed to be a one-story circular building to capture the cultural significance of the medicine wheel - a healing configuration and reminiscent of the basket shapes and patterns used by the Maidu, Pit River, Paiute, and Washoe.
