Tribal behavioral provider group seeks state funding to bolster its efforts
Nov. 4—When Sindy Bolaños-Sacoman first heard stories about Native Americans disappearing after being lured into unmarked cars in the parking lot of a Gallup detox center, she didn't know what to think.
"A lot of thoughts [were] going to kidnapping, human trafficking, organ donations — like, what's going on?" said Bolaños-Sacoman, director and co-founder of the New Mexico Tribal Behavioral Health Providers Association. "It was just, like, red flags."
There was no black market organ harvesting ring, but the tale that eventually emerged was nearly as lurid: Authorities believe a ring of scammers were targeting Native Americans in New Mexico and other states with the promise of substance abuse treatment. Instead, they were driven to Arizona, made to sign up for Medicaid benefits and left far from home, without the promised treatment.
In New Mexico, where most of those targeted were homeless Native Americans struggling with substance abuse, authorities responded to the scandal in 2023 with the "Don't Be Taken For a Ride" public awareness campaign.
In one sense, it was a case for law enforcement: A number of people have been criminally charged in connection with the scheme, which federal authorities say involved hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent billing.
But Bolaños-Sacoman, who said she first heard about frightening claims of tribal citizens disappearing in late 2021, felt she could have done more at the community level — and sooner — if her organization had any funding.
"I kept thinking if we had any money, we could do something about this, whether it's going to do community outreach, send people out there, we could have raised an awareness campaign," she said.
Now, Bolaños-Sacoman is trying to change that. During an address last week to state lawmakers on the Indian Affairs Committee, she asked for $450,000 for the New Mexico Tribal Behavioral Health Providers Association to pay for staff members, including a "little bit" of pay for herself; stipends for some members working on larger projects; a marketing budget; and an annual conference for tribal behavioral health workers.
The association launched during the coronavirus pandemic and includes behavioral health providers and administrators from tribes and pueblos around the state. While members come and go, Bolaños-Sacoman said "core members" include representatives from the Jicarilla Apache Nation, Santa Clara Pueblo, Santo Domingo Pueblo, Cochiti Pueblo, Laguna Pueblo and San Ildefonso Pueblo.
Bolaños-Sacoman runs the association as a volunteer on the side of her own business, in which she evaluates government programs.
Bolaños-Sacoman said the organization grew out of a need for behavioral health providers working in tribal communities to have a voice and organized representation. While most professional associations rely in large part on membership fees, "we didn't feel comfortable charging dues," she said, in part because tribes tend to have limited funding for behavioral health issues.
But the association's work — which focuses on bolstering the workforce, helping tribal providers navigate Medicaid, and analyzing policy around issues like alcohol and opioid abuse programs — is consistent with what state leaders are trying to accomplish in tribal communities, in addition to providing on-the-ground information about those areas.
"They are raising what their concerns are, what their desires are, and we're trying to bring in community and who the experts might be in the state ... to come and try to meet and rectify some of the barriers," Bolaños-Sacoman said.
The association's members are also regularly invited to participate in strategic planning activities, at both the state and federal level.
"A lot of the time, we are called to participate in a lot of meetings and a lot of advisory boards, etc., but again we're volunteers," Bolaños-Sacoman told lawmakers. "So it's only if we have time to have that voice."
One win in recent years, Bolaños-Sacoman told The New Mexican, was when Neal Bowen, former director of the Behavioral Health Services Division at what's now known as the New Mexico Health Care Authority, asked why so few tribal communities were applying for state grants. Association members told Bowen the state's tight deadlines were difficult to meet for small communities without dedicated grant writers.
"He said, 'So would it help if we expanded the time frame and maybe even set aside funds for just the tribes to compete?' " Bolaños-Sacoman recalled.
She added, "That was one of the first times I think that a lot of the providers felt that they were heard, because it changed immediately."
Rep. Gail Chasey, D-Albuquerque, said during the Indian Affairs Committee meeting she remembered first hearing about the Arizona-based Medicaid fraud in The New York Times, rather than locally, and applauded Bolaños-Sacoman for the association's work.
"We need people like you with your ears to the ground," Chasey said.
But Chasey, who is set to retire this year, said she believes the group might face an uphill battle in getting state funding.
"I don't have a lightbulb going off in my head telling me what to do about money," Chasey told Bolaños-Sacoman. "But I do think there has to be some kind of a service you're selling to the state in order to get the state funding."
