Ketchikan Indian Community received $5 million from the federal government for its planned healing center at the former Salmon Falls resort property.

An Oct. 27 announcement from KIC notes that the “award will support the tribe’s continued work to transform the former Salmon Falls Resort into a tribally led healing and recovery campus where people can receive care while remaining connected to their families, community, culture, lands and waters.”

KIC acquired the 11-acre waterfront property located about 17 highway miles north of downtown Ketchikan in late 2025, according to the announcement, “with the vision of creating a comprehensive healing and recovery center in Southeast Alaska.”

The federal money is from a pot administered by the state under the Rural Health Transformation Program, which was created by Congress in 2025 and aims to improve rural healthcare by providing $50 billion to states over five years.

In Alaska so far, $249 million has been awarded to 254 projects across the state, according to the state health department.

KIC’s Salmon Falls Administrator Carolyn Fry is quoted in the announcement as stating that the $5 million grant will help “further develop mental health and addiction residential and outpatient treatment capabilities” by increasing “evidenced-base programs” and enhancing “therapeutic environments.”

According to emergency room data on the Alaska Department of Health’s website, 79 people visited a Southeast emergency department between July 2025 and June 2026 because of opiates. The same data shows that, within the same time period, 26 people died from opioid-related overdose in Southeast.

Residential addiction treatment options are quite sparse in Southeast.

“We know that when someone is ready for healing, we cannot ask them to wait,” KIC Tribal Administrator and CEO Emily Tlaa Kíl Xants Edenshaw is quoted in KIC’s announcement. “We also know how difficult it is for families when someone has to leave their community and travel hundreds of miles away to receive care. Our vision for Salmon Falls has always been that healing can happen at home, surrounded by the people and places that remind us who we are.”