Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation 2026

Blackfeet Meadowlark Connections

The Blackfeet Tribe’s Southern Peigan Health Center (SPHC) provides primary care, integrated behavioral health, case management, and school-based services on the Blackfeet reservation. SPHC will recruit a care coordinator who will work with SPHC’s Meadowlark behavioral health provider to coordinate services across settings where maternal care occurs. This includes the Indian Health Service (IHS) Women’s Health Clinic, SPHC primary care and behavioral health, Tribal social service programs, and other community locations that serve perinatal patients. Grant funds will support the care coordinator position. Partners include the Blackfeet Community Hospital and Blackfeet Tribal Social Services, along with multiple community- based programs located on the reservation that include Sukapi Lodge, Blackfeet Tribal Behavioral Health, Tribal Health Improvement Program, Blackfeet Early Childhood Center (Head Start and Early Head Start), FAST Blackfeet (food pantry), Domestic Violence Programs, Blackfeet Housing and Crystal Creek Lodge.

Grant Amount

$50,000

Term

12 month

2026

Rocky Boy Health Center 2026

THRIVE: Teaching Health, Resilience, and Indigenous Values for Early Life

Rocky Boy Health Center (RBHC) is a tribal health department serving the Chippewa Cree community on the Rocky Boy Reservation in northcentral Montana. This grant will support RBHC to expand and improve its Meadowlark services for obstetric patients. Through this project, called "THRIVE: Teaching Health, Resilience, and Indigenous Values for Early Life," RBHC will improve maternal, infant, and family health outcomes by providing an integrated, culturally grounded continuum of care from pregnancy through the child’s first year of life. The project will be led by Rocky Boy Health Center in partnership with the Mīyō Pimātisiwinkamik Youth Wellness Center, RBHC Behavioral Health, and a collaborating OB/GYN physician, with coordination across tribal and community programs. Funds will be used to support the continuation and expansion of integrated behavioral health services including screening, warm handoffs, individual counseling, care coordination and workforce support.

Grant Amount

$100,000

Term

24 month

2026

Billings OBGYN Associates 2025

Improving Perinatal Mental Health in Southeastern Montana

Billings OB/GYN Associates (BOBGYN) will implement The Meadowlark Initiative in Billings and surrounding communities in Southeastern Montana. BOBGYN delivers an average of 150 babies per month at St. Vincent Regional Hospital, which constitutes roughly 75% of the Billings market. The project will improve perinatal outcomes by adopting the Meadowlark model of care, including routine screening and prompt treatment for mental health and substance use issues. BOBGYN has hired a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner who is already seeing patients. BOBGYN will use grant funds to hire a care coordinator to work with Meadowlark patients and intends to build a larger behavioral health team during the grant term. St. Vincent Regional Hospital is the main partner in this project.

Grant Amount

$150,000

Term

24 month

2025

Logan Health - Whitefish 2025

LHW Meadowlark Initiative Phase 1

Logan Health Whitefish is a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital that provides services to community members in Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Canyon communities, and towns along the Burlington Northern line to Eureka. Through this grant, Logan Health Whitefish will implement the Meadowlark model of care in a newly acquired OB/Gyn clinic in Whitefish, making Meadowlark care standard practice in this clinic, as it is at Logan Health Medical Center. Grant funds will support a full-time care coordinator. Partners include the Early Childhood Coalition of Flathead Valley, Flathead Valley Perinatal Mental Health Coalition, the Department of Child and Family Services, Zero to Five Collaborative of Lincoln County, Blackfeet Meadowlark Initiative Team, the Nurturing Center, Concert Health, and Flathead City/County Health Department.

Grant Amount

$149,928

Term

24 month

2025

Providence St. Joseph Medical Center 2025

Journey of Hope Continuation

Providence St. Joseph Medical Center serves the Polson area and delivers on average 220 babies annually. This project will continue developing the center's participation in The Meadowlark Initiative. The center will refine clinical processes, workflows, policy, and funding options to sustain the Meadowlark care model beyond the grant term. Partners include the Lake County Health Department, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Health and Social Services, the Families First Learning Lab, YWCA, Flathead Maternal Mental Health Coalition, and St. Luke's Community Hospital. Grant funds will provide partial salary support for key Meadowlark positions and support for training and travelling to meetings.

Grant Amount

$100,000

Term

24 month

2025

Billings Clinic 2024

Expanding Empaths: Implementing Collaborative Care in the Perinatal Care Setting

Billings Clinic is a not-for-profit, community-owned and governed, multi-specialty group practice serving multiple regions throughout southeast and south-central Montana, including Crow and Northern Cheyenne Tribal Members. This project will expand and transition Billings Clinic's current reproductive behavioral health care program to an integrated behavioral health model. Billings Clinic will implement Collaborative Care services in its OB/GYN clinic to provide routine screening, care management, peer support, and therapeutic and psychiatric services for perinatal women. Grant funds will support a full-time behavioral health care manager and a portion of the project director's salary. Billings Clinic actively partners with One Health, which provides a recovery doula to OB/GYN patients.

Grant Amount

$149,987

Term

24 month

2024

Benefis Health System Foundation 2023

Meadowlark Initiative – Benefis Hospitals

Benefis Hospital will continue participating in The Meadowlark Initiative, expanding the mental health services and care coordination it provides to pregnant women in Great Falls and the surrounding areas. Benefis will use this grant mainly to hire an additional licensed behavioral health provider. The new provider will allow the site to treat more patients and shorten wait times for counseling services. Benefis will sustain the position through billing insurance. Partners include Great Falls OB/GYN Associates, Cascade City-County Health Department, and DPHHS Child and Family Services.

Grant Amount

$100,000

Term

24 month

2023

Blackfeet Tribal Health 2023

Blackfeet Meadowlark Initiative

The Blackfeet Tribal Health Department will continue participating in The Meadowlark Initiative and expand integrated, team-based care to pregnant women on the Blackfeet Reservation. Through a partnership with the Women's Clinic at the Indian Health Service (IHS) Blackfeet Community Hospital, Blackfeet Tribal Health will provide behavioral health services to women with mental health issues or substance use disorders. Grant funds will support a care coordinator who will help women access community-based resources to address their social needs. Care will be coordinated with Logan Health in Kalispell and Benefis Health System in Great Falls when appropriate. Partners include IHS, Blackfeet Child Protective Services, and many programs under Blackfeet Tribal Health.

Grant Amount

$100,000

Term

24 month

2023

Northeast Montana Health Services 2023

Northeast Montana Health Services Meadowlark Initiative

Northeast Montana Health Services (NEMHS) is a seven-facility health system, including two critical access hospitals, two primary care clinics, two retail pharmacies, and a long-term care facility, serving Roosevelt County and the Fort Peck reservation in Northeast Montana. Through this project, NEMHS will implement The Meadowlark Initiative® in their two primary care clinics in Wolf Point and Poplar. NEMHS will implement a team-based approach to care for pregnant women, including universal health screening, embedded behavioral health and care coordination supports, robust community partnerships, and defined referral pathways to higher-level treatment when necessary. MHCF contractors and staff will provide technical assistance on the clinical model, and JG Research and Evaluation will provide data collection and analysis support. Grant funds will hire a care coordination and behavioral health provider. Partnerships for this project include Roosevelt County Health Department, Fort Peck Tribal Health Department, Eastern Montana Community Mental Health Center, Indian Health Services, Spotted Bull Treatment Center, the Fort Peck Tribes Health Promotion Disease Prevention Program, and Red Bird Women's Shelter.

Grant Amount

$150,000

Term

36 month

2023

Rocky Boy Health Board 2023

Nurturing Healthy Moms for Bright Futures

Rocky Boy Health Center (RBHC) is a tribally-led system that provides health care services to the community on the Rocky Boy Reservation in Montana. RBHC offers a full suite of health care and services for over 4,000 people with over 180 employees. The project will establish a model of care that efficiently and effectively tracks and supports high-risk prenatal patients, guiding them through the health care system and other essential support programs. Funding will deploy a specialized RN care coordinator to provide personalized care, collaborating seamlessly with RBHC and external partners, including Northern Montana Hospital, Benefis Hospital, and OB/GYN specialists who provide prenatal services, behavioral health providers, and various tribal programs. By joining The Meadowlark Initiative®, RBHC aspires to measurably improve outcomes for prenatal patients, forging a healthier and more empowered community.

Grant Amount

$150,000

Term

24 month

2023

Bozeman Health Foundation 2022

Perinatal Substance Abuse in Southwest Montana: An Integrated Model

Bozeman Health will support pregnant women with behavioral health issues by expanding and strengthening The Meadowlark Initiative model of care in its Women’s Specialty Clinic. The Meadowlark Initiative provides routine screening in prenatal care for mental health issues and substance use disorders and prompt access to treatment and additional community support if needed. Building on a previous grant, this project will focus on implementing collaborative care and building partnerships with community organizations that serve pregnant women and families. Grant funds will support staff salaries and a consultant who will help Bozeman Health implement the Meadowlark Initiative model of care. Community and organization partnerships will be developed throughout the course of the project.

Grant Amount

$100,000

Term

24 month

2022

Kalispell Regional Medical Center Inc. dba Logan Health Medical Center 2022

LHMC Meadowlark Phase 3

Logan Health will expand its Meadowlark Initiative from its midwifery clinic into its maternal-fetal medicine clinic and its newly acquired obstetrics practice, Logan Health OB/GYN. This project will implement Meadowlark’s collaborative care model by adding a full-time counselor and a part-time care coordinator to Logan Health’s staff to support women and families across its clinics. Funding will support the project staff and a consultant to provide technical assistance on Meadowlark’s collaborative care model. This is the third Meadowlark project supported at Logan Health since 2017. Over the years, the hospital has developed extensive partnerships with community coalitions and organizations that provide social support to pregnant women and their families. A few identified collaborators on this project include the Early Childhood Coalition of Flathead Valley and the Flathead Valley Perinatal Mental Health Coalition.

Grant Amount

$100,000

Term

24 month

2022

Northern Montana Health Care 2022

Meadowlark Initiative Implementation at Northern Montana Hospital

Northern Montana Hospital (Northern) will implement The Meadowlark Initiative to decrease drug use in pregnancy, reduce child removals, identify individual needs for each patient and their family, and build a safe team-based approach to support better perinatal outcomes. Northern will coordinate OB/GYN, family practice, and behavioral health providers and provide care coordination to identify and connect resources from the community to patients when needs are identified. Funding will support a care coordinator and licensed addiction counselor, and the project will also draw on Northern's behavioral health team. Project partners include Rocky Boy Health Center and Sweet Home Medical Center.

Grant Amount

$175,000

Term

24 month

2022

St. Luke Community Healthcare Foundation 2022

Meadowlark Initiative

St. Luke Community Healthcare, located on the Flathead Reservation in Ronan, Montana, used this grant to improve implementation of the Meadowlark model of care, aiming to enhance the behavioral health services it provides to women and families on the reservation. This project was successful in setting up a dashboard and automating data extraction to facilitate the monitoring of OB patients’ care; implementing routine screenings for substance use disorders, depression, and anxiety; ensuring that patients receive a prompt referral when needed; strengthening care coordination for pregnant women and families; and forging community partnerships to maximize access to resources. The registered nurse care manager, licensed clinical social worker, and licensed clinical professional counselor collaborated closely to review patient caseloads with providers and ensure that patients receive the care they need, particularly postpartum care throughout the first year. St. Luke Community Healthcare is committed to sustaining this program and the required positions to continue serving women and families on the reservation.

Grant Amount

$100,000

Term

24 month

2022

St. Peter's Health Foundation 2022

Parental Mental Health Support Program Expansion

St. Peter's Health (SPH) will expand and strengthen its established Meadowlark Initiative program. This project will increase evidence-based screening cadence and access to services and enhance team-based care by expanding specialized support services. SPH will hire a licensed addiction counselor and behavioral health navigator and embed these positions into the obstetrics clinic to provide outpatient substance use and mental health services. The addition of the licensed addiction counselor position will allow SPH's addiction medicine and behavioral health providers to work to the top of their licensure, and the behavioral health navigator will assist in identifying social needs, connecting patients to the appropriate level of care, facilitating referrals, and ensuring continuity of care. Grant funds will support the behavioral health navigator's salary. Over the past several years, SPH has formed strong relationships with community partners, including other health care providers, mental health providers, DPHHS Child and Family Services, Lewis & Clark County Home Visiting Program, and many community-based organizations which will help support the effectiveness of this project.

Grant Amount

$100,000

Term

24 month

2022