BILLINGS — A new health clinic is taking shape in Billings, designed to meet the medical, mental, and cultural needs of urban Native Americans.
Community leaders and tribal members gathered Friday to break ground on the Eagle Seeker Clinic. The two-story, 3,500-square-foot space will be located next to the existing Billings Urban Indian Health and Wellness Center at 1125 Broadwater Ave., within the Eagle Seeker Community Center.
Watch the groundbreaking for the new Eagle Seeker Clinic:
Eagle Seeker Clinic breaks ground, expanding health care for urban Native Americans in Billings
Leaders say the new space will offer expanded mental health, optometry, and primary care services.
“We’re building this to provide better services and expand our programs to the Native American population,” said Leonard Smith Jr., CEO of the Billings Urban Indian Health and Wellness Center. “There’s a huge population here in Billings, Native Americans who live here, and Native Americans who are coming back and forth for health services.”
The current facility opened in 2023, after the Native American Development Corporation purchased the former Al Bedoo Shrine Auditorium in 2022. Demand for services quickly outgrew the space. Smith said the expansion is the result of years of fundraising and planning since first securing a contract in 2018.
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Leonard Smith Jr, the CEO of the Billings Urban Indian Health and Wellness Center, speaks at Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony.
“We’ve since outgrown this already because the need is so big, and our goal is just to provide professional services to the Native Americans and have something nice,” said Smith. “We’ve all had to work very hard to raise money.”
The clinic’s services will include primary and behavioral health services, but will also go beyond conventional health care to focus on cultural and spiritual healing.
“I think the missing piece is culturally appropriate treatment,” said Smith. “We are just helping the whole healing process. It takes more than just getting the surgery. I mean, it’s mind, body, and soul for complete healing.”
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Rendering of the new clinic
Also in attendance was state Sen. Cora Neumann, D-Bozeman, who also serves as the chief community health officer for the Native American Development Corporation. According to Neumann, roughly half of Native Americans in Montana receive their healthcare at urban Indian health centers, yet these centers receive only about 1% of the federal funding allocated through the Indian Health Service (IHS).
That funding gap means many Native families rely on centers like Billings’ for care that’s often under-resourced.
“Funding for each individual Native American in this country, the funding is about one-thirteenth of what the average American gets,” said Neumann. “It’s really, really important that our health centers are able to not only have a grant, which we have from IHS, but Medicaid, private insurance. That’s what helps us really make sure that we can serve, again, almost 50% of the Native Americans in Montana.”
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State Sen. Cora Neumann, D-Bozeman, speaks at the ceremony.
Neumann said the disparity stems from historical inequities and a lack of follow-through on the federal government’s treaty obligations to tribes.
“There is an underlying baseline of care that through the treaties that were signed between the US government and the tribes,” she said. “Our government does need to honor those treaties and make sure that those services are available to make up for that inequality.”
Smith and Neumann said the center’s long-term goal is self-sufficiency, with income generated through services like a pharmacy and laboratory to help sustain operations beyond their grant from the IHS and insurance payments.
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For many patients, including Billings resident Clarent Stewart, the new clinic represents a long-awaited opportunity for culturally grounded, accessible care. He said he often has to drive more than an hour for care, and services such as dental can take months of waiting before he’s seen.
“For the community here, the urban Indians, we’re always looking for somewhere to go that we’re not spending a lot of money out of pocket to make things easier for elders and youth as well,” said Stewart. “It’s huge to have it right here so close to home as well.”
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Resident Clarent Stewart said he’s excited for the new clinic.
The Eagle Seeker Clinic is expected to take about 18 months to complete, with construction scheduled to wrap up in 2027. Stewart said he is excited about the possible employment and teaching opportunities the new clinic would bring to Billings.
“I think it can open up a lot of doors within itself to open up more opportunity, as in teaching, construction, health care, behavioral health, whatever it is,” said Stewart. “I really like the fact that this big building could open up a lot of good for everybody.”