The signs have popped up everywhere on Vashon — “Land of the Swift Water People.”

Let’s make this sentiment real by welcoming the Seattle Indian Health Board’s new regional treatment center to our island.

Though geologically disjunct, Vashon is a part of King County — evident in the bus service, water taxi service, road service, public library, publicly funded land protection projects and more that make life here not only manageable but wonderful.

We benefit from this region — from the strength of the economy, to the quality of our institutions, to the vibrancy of our arts and culture.

But our region — like the rest of the country — also faces huge challenges. One of them is a substance abuse crisis, born of forces defying easy explanation, that has ravaged communities.

Overdoses from fentanyl have become a leading cause of death in King County, rivaling those caused by COVID. Like climate change and homelessness, this is a painful reality that is tearing at the fabric of our county. People who are poor, people of color and Indigenous people are suffering the most.

Here on Vashon, substance abuse disorders are more hidden, but make no mistake, they have also caused repeated, wrenching harm to our community. Our community has much to gain by supporting a culture of recovery made visible by the Seattle Indian Health Board’s (SIHB) presence here.

It would be easy for many of us to approach this issue from a place of privilege, seeing this as Seattle’s problem, not ours. We could hide away on our lovely island, stroll through our peaceful woods and along our protected beaches and take pleasure in the fact that we don’t face the problems that beset communities across the country.

Or we could do something different: We could say, “How can we help?”

This is how we can help. We can be a player in a regional issue and support an excellent nonprofit working to help people recover from their addictions.

SIHB has a track record — it has already helped tens of thousands of people reclaim their health and lives since its opening 53 years ago.

The organization’s Thunderbird Treatment Center was located in Seattle’s Rainier Beach community for 33 years before the agency closed the aging facility in 2019, pledging at the time to find a new location for the much-needed service.

Now slated to open at the site of the former Vashon Community Care Center, SIHB’s new and expanded treatment center will again provide inpatient support to people of all races, basing its care on traditional Native medicine and practices.

It will provide services not only to single people but pregnant women and parents — mothers can receive treatment while living there with their children.

The needs are considerable. We live on land taken from Indigenous people. The harms of that genocide and displacement continue today. By every measure — health, wealth, life expectancy and more — Native people carry the impact of this deep historical trauma.

A lifetime ago, John F. Kennedy uttered words that have stood the test of time: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

This is what we can do for our region. We can support the work of SIHB, an acclaimed healthcare organization whose leadership and staff define the brilliance of diversity. We can welcome them to Vashon, supporting them in their effort to end addiction, strengthen community and honor Native people.