$170M Echo Cliffs Health Center opens after decades of planning

COPPERMINE, Ariz.

A $170 million health center serving Bodaway-Gap, Coppermine and nearby communities will hold its grand opening Friday, Oct. 2, and begin seeing patients Monday after more than two decades of work to bring medical services closer to families in Western Navajo.

The Echo Cliffs Health Center, operated by Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation, will provide primary care, dental care, eye care, laboratory and imaging services, mental health care, physical therapy, women’s health and pharmacy services. Additional specialty care will be added as providers become available.

The center is not an emergency room or urgent care facility. Patients with emergencies should call 911, according to Aurelia Yazzie, the director of the Office of Communications at TCRHCC.

Residents in the area have often traveled about 35 miles to Tuba City for services, while a part-time mobile clinic has served Bodaway-Gap and surrounding communities since 2018. The new center is expected to serve about 6,000 people.

The effort behind the facility stretches back decades. Yazzie traced some of the early work to the Bodaway-Gap Chapter and its community land use planning committee, which helped move the project toward the Indian Health Service priority list.

“The way how this happened was through, I believe it was through the Gap chapter,” Yazzie said. “And I want to say their CLUPC – the community land use planning committee. That’s how this started.”

Proposed medical facilities can be placed on an IHS priority list and move forward as funding becomes available, according to Yazzie.

“There’s a list that appropriated funds go into them,” she said. “And so when there’s enough appropriated funds, whoever’s at the top of the list gets considered.”

TCRHCC traces formal work on the project at least to 2001, when its board and former chief executives began seeking federal and tribal support for development in the area.

Construction on the 123,565-square-foot outpatient center followed a Feb. 16, 2024, groundbreaking. The IHS provided the primary funding.

The site needed water, sewer, electrical and fiber connections. Crews also upgraded an electrical substation and widened the road at the entrance to accommodate vehicles turning into the campus.

Julius Young II, TCRHCC’s chief operations officer, identified utilities as the largest construction challenge. Water had to be hauled to the site while permanent service was being developed. TCRHCC worked with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority and other partners to complete the infrastructure.

About 88% of the contractors working on the project were local, according to TCRHCC.

Seven families relinquished land so the health center could be built, according to Yazzie. Family members shared stories about walking through the area, delivering water and tending sheep and cattle long before construction began.

“They used to herd sheep through here and feed their cattle and sheep,” Yazzie said. “So we all heard their stories of what this land meant to them, but what it also means to have something like this here for the community.”

The health center sits within Coppermine Chapter jurisdiction near the Bodaway-Gap boundary.

When patient services begin Monday, clinic schedules will vary.

Family medicine is scheduled Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mental health care and pharmacy services will also operate Monday through Friday, while physical therapy is expected to be available during the workweek.

Dental services are scheduled Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The eye clinic is expected to operate Tuesdays and Thursdays. Women’s health is scheduled Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Pediatrics will also be available on selected days.

The center will include imaging services such as X-rays, ultrasound and mammography, along with an on-site laboratory. Audiology, allergy care and telemedicine are among the specialty services planned. Orthopedics, urology, podiatry and other specialty clinics are expected to be added later.

Having several services in one location could allow families to receive more than one type of care during a trip. TCRHCC officials gave the example of one family member receiving dental care while another receives primary care, with laboratory or imaging services available at the same facility if needed.

The center could put care within about 10 to 30 minutes for some families in surrounding communities, compared with the longer trip to Tuba City, according to Yazzie.

The facility includes a drive-through pharmacy, allowing patients to pick up medications without entering the building. Pharmacy service is initially scheduled Monday through Friday.

Other areas include a cafeteria, physical therapy space, a wellness center and a meditation room. A walking trail loops around the outside of the campus.

The non-emergent care also displays 110 pieces of work by local Diné, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute artists throughout the halls.

TCRHCC has hired 80 employees so far and continues recruiting. The facility has capacity for a workforce of 239. Some employees already working elsewhere within TCRHCC have applied for positions at Echo Cliffs to work closer to home.

A separate $87 million staff housing project is under construction near the center. Funded by IHS, the development includes 92 units with 60 apartments in two buildings and 32 single-family homes. The housing is expected to open in phases, with completion anticipated by the end of 2026.

The health center follows years of development restrictions tied to the Bennett Freeze. Echo Cliffs is the first major building constructed in the area after those restrictions were lifted, according to TCRHCC.

The public grand opening will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the health center along Navajo Route 20, also known as Coppermine Road. The ribbon-cutting ceremony begins at 10 a.m., followed at noon by health information booths, food, entertainment and tours of the facility.

Get instant access to this story by purchasing one of our many e-edition subscriptions HERE at our Navajo Times Store.

---