A grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for a new pharmacy serving the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB) community was held Monday at The Medicine Lodge.
The pharmacy is housed inside the tribe’s Medicine Lodge, which also shares its space with other departments including health and human services, public safety, and facilities management.
GTB chairwoman Sandra Witherspoon spoke briefly at the ceremony, highlighting the exciting day for the tribe as they promote access to holistic healthcare services.
“The Medicine Lodge grand opening was in 1996, so today, almost 30 years later, we stand here for the grand opening of the Grand Traverse Band’s Pharmacy,” Witherspoon said. “The pharmacy will assist us in broadening our healthcare services and nothing is more important than healthcare for our people… I want to say chi miigwetch to all the healthcare staff who worked hard to put this event together for the community today.”
Four employees will staff the new location which include chief pharmacist Kim Hines, staff pharmacist Melissa Bergeron, and pharmacy technicians Erin Brinkman and Delia Shawandase. The newly renovated pharmacy space took about a year to complete and once served as a conference room, of which was moved just across the hall.
Sonya Zotigh, GTB health administrator, said there’s been a great need for a home pharmacy among the GTB community and they anticipate at least 2,000 people to utilize its services. GTB has a six county service area, Zotigh added, and they’re hoping more eligible patients will register at the clinic to receive pharmacy services.
“We’re hoping to extend out into our six county area as well,” Zotigh said. “And we have been looking at satellite pharmacies that we’d want to talk to the tribal council about after we get well established here.”
There are multiple criteria approved by the tribal council in order to be eligible for GTB pharmacy services. The first criteria is being a patient who has an established relationship with the GTB Family Health Clinic. GTB Health Services accepts responsibility for the health care of patients who completed the clinic’s patient registration as well as other qualifications such as: being a member of a federally recognized tribe, a dependent of eligible Native Americans who have not reached the age of 19, non-native spouses who are married to an eligible Native American with billable insurance, and employees, employee spouses and dependents provided they have third-party billable insurance coverage.
For more information on patient eligibility, call the GTB pharmacy main line at 231-5347350.
