Leaders and medical professionals gathered at Cascade Community Health in Centralia last week to discuss medical and social service priorities for the state's 2026 Washington state legislative session.
Amid widespread flooding that kept some officials busy, social service and medical providers, including representatives for Providence, Cascade Community Health and more, presented to a panel of local and state leaders on Thursday, Dec. 11.
The annual event hosted by Cascade Community Healthcare brought the officials and providers together with hopes of clarifying legislative priorities going into the state's legislative session this winter.
State lawmakers spoke mostly on the state budget during brief introductions and expressed eagerness to hear from local providers. They also attempted to manage expectations about funding, while reiterating a continued message from the state's Republican Party that the state's budget woes are a matter of priorities — not a shortage of taxation. Lawmakers suggested that some of the programs that would be touched on in the meeting should be a higher priority for funding.
“We can't do every idea. We have to deliver the basics,” said state Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia. “Behavioral health is the basics. It is a fundamental responsibility for the state government, and that gives, I think, folks in this room a better position to go fight for the programs you're trying to sustain.”
The panel of local and state leaders included five state lawmakers from the state's 20th and 19th legislative districts, which represent virtually all of rural Southwest Washington between Olympia and Vancouver. It also included another four local officials from Lewis County and the City of Centralia.
State Reps. Peter Abbarno, R-Chehalis, and Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, and Braun represented the 20th District during the meeting. State Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, and state Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, represented the state's 19th Legislative District on the panel.
Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Chief Chris Sweet and Lewis County Commissioner Sean Swope represented Lewis County on the panel. Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza was invited but not present as the sheriff’s office responded to flooding. Centralia Police Chief Andy Caldwell and Centralia City Manager Michael Thomas together represented the City of Centralia.
More than 10 individuals representing different medical and social service providers presented during the event. Those speaking represented many branches of Cascade Community Health, Providence, the Youth Advocacy Center, Destination Hope and Recovery, Great Rivers Administrative Service Organization, United Way, The Drew North Foundation and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Given the sheer number of people speaking, presenters were kept to seven-minute presentations each for the most part.
Providers and other social service administrators drove home one specific message: investing in their programs saves local and state governments both time and money.
Erika Marshall and Makayla Greenwood presented first on the substance use disorder treatments and other services that Cascade Community Healthcare provides within the Lewis County Jail. Cascade’s jail services also include medication-assisted treatment, or MAT, which uses medications such as Vivitrol or Sublocade — medications that reduce addiction cravings and block euphoric or other positive sensations from opioid use.
Marshall and Greenwood presented that treating individuals for addiction in jail and getting them to continue that treatment outside of jail reduces costs for the criminal justice system, including for law enforcement, medical professionals, public defenders, prosecutors and jail services. Greenwood estimated that avoided arrests save between $1,800 to $3,200 per incident and that preventing overdoses can save between $7,000 and $12,000.
“These savings reflect reduced harm, fewer crises and increased community stability,” Greenwood said.
Officials from Cascade Community Healthcare and Providence also presented on the need to continue investing in mental health clinics focused on serving people in rural communities that often have a harder time accessing health care because of location or income.
According to Sierra Pecson with Cascade Community Healthcare, 87% of Cascade’s certified community behavioral health clinics (CCBHCs) visitors are from rural areas with severe health care shortages, and 75% are Medicaid beneficiaries. Eleven percent are uninsured.
“CCBHCs are transforming behavioral health care in Washington. We are serving the individuals with the greatest barriers, providing integrated treatment and achieving measurable improvements in well being consistently and at scale,” Pecson said. “The Legislature will be presented early next year to provide funding for Washington CCBHCs. I urge you to strongly consider all of the good CCBHCs are doing for Washingtonians.”
Co-founder of Destination Hope and Recover Robin Cozad presented on the area's Recovery Navigator program and, with some support from Caldwell and Swope, highlighted the importance of the deflection program that gives first responders another option to responding to calls other than arrest and incarceration.
The program sends out peers — people with lived experience with homelessness addiction or mental health — to speak with people and help connect them with services. That ranges from medical services to housing aid to addiction treatment. According to Cozad, the program can save the government nearly $20,000 per person who engages by preventing continued arrests, incarceration or other expenses.
The Recovery Navigator program was threatened to be defunded entirely during the state's 2025 budget season but escaped with just a 20% reduction.
“There were some drafts through the House and this and the Senate actually proposed a complete elimination. Luckily, those didn't happen,” Cozad said. “The ask from all of you here is, if possible, to advocate for the reversal of that reduction, or certainly for the sustaining of the funding that we do have so that we can continue doing this work that is saving the state of Washington and this region and this county and its communities’ money.”
