PORTSMOUTH — For the past few years, Gloucester resident Linda Mixon has been spending six months at a time in her native Arizona just to qualify for health care. Mixon, a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, has lived in Hampton Roads for almost 50 years. But when her husband retired, she wasn’t old enough for Medicare and she developed a severe case of vasculitis, a blood vessel inflammation.
Finding and affording treatment was so difficult she opted to stay with family and reestablish Arizona residency. Then last fall while attending the Nansemond Indian Nation’s powwow, she learned about their new initiative, Fishing Point Healthcare, a network intended to provide state-of-the-art care to members of any Indigenous tribes as well as all Virginia Medicaid recipients. The clinic is also open to people without insurance who meet Medicaid criteria.
“I’m just glad that they’re here — not just for myself, but for everyone,” Mixon said Saturday at a community day to celebrate the completion of Fishing Point’s flagship clinic at 2929 London Blvd. in Portsmouth. Behind her, dozens of people enjoyed the block party vibe as they danced in front of a DJ stand, stood in line at several food trucks or supervised their children in a bounce house.
The facility, including its in-house pharmacy, opened on a limited basis in February. Recently, providers there have been treating about 20 patients a day, said David “Black Feather” Darling, Fishing Point’s board chair.