Rep. Michael Baumgartner made his way to the rural town of Chewelah Thursday morning to meet with NEW Health and city officials after they announced plans to expand the city’s health care services in the next couple of years. This expansion will add dental and in-person behavioral health services to the area.
“As I learned more about what NEW Health is doing, every time I hear about it, it’s more exciting,” the Spokane Republican said during the meeting. “I think you guys are so innovative in identifying community needs.”
The town of about 2,552 people has had health care services cut over the past year, including orthopedic services and the DominiCare program at Providence St. Joseph’s Hospital, a companion-based program that serves older people who need nonclinical home services.
NEW Health recently was awarded $2 million after Congress approved funding for multiple projects requested by Washington state’s representatives in the House and Senate. The nonprofit primary care provider has acquired an estimated $8.95 million in total from state and federal funding.
Jacquelin Maycumber, chief strategy officer for NEW Health, said Phase 1 of the expansion for them is to make sure and outline the services they will have at their new site.
Maycumber was a former representative for the 7th Legislative District.
“Phase 1 is making sure we have that medical, dental, behavioral health and pharmacy, and drive-thru pharmacy that you see in our other clinical locations, and then moving administration offices and having that regional workforce training center,” Maycumber said.
Phase 1 is expected to be completed in the summer of 2027. Phase 2, she said, will be more about the construction and size of the site.
“It’s about an hour, hour-and-a-half drive to be able to get in to a dentist if you’re low-income or don’t have the ability to see a private dentist in the area,” Maycumber said.
“Having that dental capacity here at Chewelah is really why the state invested in this program, and additionally, making sure that we have a more expansive pharmacy and behavioral health,” she said.
CEO Desiree Sweeney anticipates the expansion will create 60 direct jobs, in addition to the current 77 employees, and an estimated 180 indirect jobs. She added they have been coordinating alongside city officials, especially as the city works through a $9 million water infrastructure upgrade.
“We meet about every three to four weeks, but we email probably weekly,” Sweeney said. “We keep structured meeting minutes and milestones so that both projects are working symbiotically together.”
Baumgartner said with rural health being a critical need, collaborations between local, state and federal governments are going to be key.
“Washington state continues to do some things that cause challenges for the federal government, so we want to try to navigate those so that important things like rural health get to where it’s supposed to be,” he said.
