Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a condition caused by the prenatal exposure of a fetus to alcohol. Alcohol is transmitted from mother to fetus through the umbilical cord. FASD may result in a variety of physical, intellectual, and cognitive issues. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is on the extreme spectrum of the condition.

According to the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, one out of every 100 children in the U.S. are born with FASD. However, in Pine Ridge, it is estimated that one out of every four children born in Pine Ridge are born with FASD. The high rate of FASD in Pine Ridge would seem consistent with the high rate of alcohol addiction on the South Dakota tribal reservation.

On September 1, 2019, the Lakota Hope Center in Whiteclay, Nebraska, was purchased by FASD Trauma Center LLC, a limited liability company operated by John A. Maisch. The 5.5 + acre parcel is located on the side end of Whiteclay, immediately north of the Oglala Lakota Nursing Home, a 60-bed long-term care facility opened in 2017 and owned by the Oglala Lakota Nation. The tribe is currently completing construction on a 12-bed memory care addition.

FASD Trauma Center LLC is actively seeking tribal partners to develop the property for providing substance abuse and treatment prevention, assessment, and/or treatment services. “If we want to assure that beer will never be sold in Whiteclay again,” Maisch said, “we must come together to recreate this unincorporated town from a place of death and destruction to a place of hope and healing.”