PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Songs and dance reflect the pain of having their land, voting rights and even their identities stolen. Last to get federal recognition, the Nansemond Tribe is now the first tribe in the state to open a clinic that is part of a new healthcare system.
Fishing Point Healthcare’s Portsmouth health clinic and onsite pharmacy, which opened earlier this year, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday.
“If we can go into a business that’s caring for people that have been forgotten the way we’ve been, people that have been treated the way we’ve been, and if we can pay that forward and provide economic security at the same time, what a beautiful system that would be,” said Dave “Black Feather” Darling, board chairman of Fishing Point Healthcare.
The word Nansemond translates to fishing point. Like warriors from the past, professionals at Fishing Point will capture ailments that include tooth decay, obesity, high blood pressure and low self-esteem.
“Is it dietary? Is it stress? And if it’s stress, we can refer them to our own mental health people,” Darling said. “So it’s really trying to build integrative medicine inside of this facility. It is everything anyone would ever need, you know, pharmacy, lab procedure, rooms, dentistry. We know that our client-base is fraught with barriers to getting place.”
The clinic has been decorated with photographs that were taken by indigenous people. The artwork offers threads of the Nansemond’s history and values that will be woven into the fabric of care.
Petronella Holmes is the community liaison who coordinates transportation for a population that is bound by poverty.
“We pick patients up,” Holmes said. “We have a pharmacy that delivers. I’ll meet you at the street corner. We’ll meet you at the 7-Eleven and wherever you need to go so that we can get you in here for better health and onto what you need to do to live your best life.”
Fishing Point also operates a skilled home health and personal care business, a behavioral health facility in Chesapeake, and a recovery center in Chesapeake. Construction and planning are underway for health clinics in Norfolk and Newport News.
The Fishing Point Clinic, at 2929 London Boulevard, will host an open house starting at 11 a.m. Saturday. There will be food and fun for the kids, but if you have Medicaid or if you are indigenous, you can schedule an appointment. For more information contact the clinic at 757-861-9010.