— from Orcas Medical Foundation Board —
As most islanders know by now, Orcas Medical Center (OMC) will be losing a valued physician. Dr. Camille Fleming has resigned her OMC/Island Hospital position as of January 21 and accepted an offer from a larger mainland facility. We, as members of the Orcas Medical Foundation (OMF) board, which maintains the OMC facility and supports OMC operations, share the disappointment expressed by many of her patients that Dr. Fleming is leaving.
Why is Dr. Fleming leaving?
Island Hospital operates OMC under contract with OMF; OMC staff and physicians are Island Hospital employees. Island Hospital, in consultation with OMF, worked hard to retain Dr. Fleming. All parties understood both the challenges faced by small healthcare organizations and individual needs for a good quality of life. The discussions were comprehensive, but a mutually beneficial agreement could not be reached.
What does this mean for OMC patients?
The mission of OMC, OMF, and Island Hospital is to provide high-quality medical care and information to Orcas residents and visitors. OMF is in regular communication with Island Hospital, whose administration is working diligently to recruit a highly qualified physician for OMC. In the interim, a temporary physician will be available to see patients while a permanent physician is recruited. Patients can expect that they will have access to high-quality care in the interim.
What’s next for OMC and OMF?
OMC and OMF are committed to addressing the unique challenges of providing comprehensive healthcare in our rural setting. We intend to do so in partnership with other community stakeholders and Island Hospital. Together we will work toward ensuring that the staff and facilities at OMC are the highest quality possible.
In 2016, OMC and OMF will celebrate their 60th year of providing medical services on Orcas Island. As we begin our seventh decade of service to our community, we intend to continue to be responsive to the evolving medical needs on the island. We look forward to open dialogue with all stakeholders in meeting those needs.
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I believe I speak for everyone I know when I say that we will truly miss Dr. Fleming’s presence at the Medical Center, and wish her well in her next undertaking.
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I cannot tell you how upset I am that Dr. Fleming is leaving the Orcas Medical Center. She is an excellent medical professional. Shame on the Orcas Medical Center board and Island Hospital for allowing this to happen.
It seems to me that the Orcas Medical Center has had more than a few resignations over the past several years. If my memory is not accurate, I would appreciate a recap of the medical staff that has been employed at OMC during the past five or so years and who are no longer employed there.
Too, I am becoming increasingly annoyed that in our small community there seems to be several organizations that are being less than forth-coming about the nature of their activities. “Something seems to be rotten in Denmark” !!!
Dr. Fleming and her team always provided me and my wife warm caring excellent healthcare. This is a tremendous loss for our community. We will continue to use her services on the mainland.
This OMC press release is cryptic and does little to clarify the scuttlebutt that is going around the island. I hope the OMC board and management get their house in order, stop the loss of talented medical staff, and get Dr. Fleming back in the fold.
I cannot believe that we are losing yet another excellent physician at the OIMC. Dr. Fleming is an exceptional doctor who moved here with her family and we were thrilled with her medical experience. Many letters of support were sent to OIMC asking them to work with Camille that we could continue using her as our doctor. Shame on OIMC for not making it happen.
What a loss for Orcas! I believe a community should be able to keep the best and that to me is DR Fleming. OMC to make it work to bring Dr Fleming back to Orcas.
I am very upset and worried that my family is losing Dr Fleming as our family doctor AND our island is losing Dr Fleming, a valuable, kind, and experienced physician. From the island history I’ve heard, OMC has not been able to retain a head doctor for more than two years for… The last twelve years? This sounds like an OMC or community problem, NOT a Dr Fleming problem. And therefore, I believe OMC and our community must have some big changes, if we ever hope to retain someone else in the future.
I also personally do not believe “worked hard to retain” or “All parties understood both the challenges faced by small healthcare organizations and individual needs for a good quality of life. “. Dr Fleming has a family here on the island. Something must have been pretty bad at her workplace if she was so motivated to look for work on the mainland. And I really wonder how sincere the effort was to find a “mutually acceptable solution.” Again, OMC, I hope you are looking at this as a OMC issue, a community issue… Because I have little faith that it is going away. Too bad Dr Fleming has to.
On December 22nd I arrived to the Orcas Medical Center for my scheduled appointment with Dr. Fleming and found an overfull parking lot but a completely empty clinic. Needless to say, I was confused. As I approached the check in counter there was a sign indicating folks could just take a seat in the waiting room and someone would eventually come out to get us. As it turns out, Vince Oliver from Island Hospital had come over from Anacortes that very day. He was addressing the entire staff at the exact moment I arrived and this meeting went on for another 20 minutes. Later on, I asked what the heck was going on and I can confidently say staff were distraught, had raw feelings, some were angry, and even teary eyed. This meeting was Island Hospital’s way to calm the waters of the future and deny culpability for the departure of Dr. Fleming. According to those I asked, the OMF board does have some responsibility in the resignation of Dr. Fleming as well as Vince Oliver from Island Hospital. There is a long history of this clinic chewing up and spitting out excellent physicians. Just about every woman I know who had switched to Dr. Fleming is feeling very irate at the situation in general. We all need to speak up for what we know is right, get our doctor back to serving those of us on the island, then the bad little men don’t win.
I am sure that Dr. Fleming’s departure does not come without a lot of deliberation regarding her future as an MD and her family’s well being. It must be a difficult decision, and the deciding factors must come from the internal issues at OMC and
they are private between the two parties…as they should be. The outpouring of comments in support of DR. Fleming’s residence as an MD should be heard by the
OMC board and the community. I have been cared for by both Dr. Fleming and the resident MD and have been gratified to have been a patient of both Dr’s. I speak positively for both; both Doctors are caring, comprehensive, and kind people.
Dr. Fleming and her family came to Orcas Island for a reason, and they are leaving for
a reason. It’s up to them and the OMC to figure out what to do to make it worthwhile for them to stay. The comments from the community are valuable, and all the parties involved should listen to the community comments; as I think they are going to.
Albeit, I think both residents are caring, kind, and good doctors. I will miss Dr.Fleming is she chooses to leave, but I also cherish the excellent resident MD that has been a friend and stalwart with us for so many years. An undersung hero!
Medical science is an evolving science; the practitioners are still learning.
To Dr. Fleming : A simple and humble thank you. Thank you for your time and personal investment in the well being of my family as our doctor. You have set a precedent in family medicine that Orcas has not seen in recent years and have instilled in your patients a sense of empowerment and ownership of our own health. My family wishes you well on your new adventure.
I am nothing but upset disappointed and deeply frustrated in the Orcas Medical Center’s boards inability to take the patients concerns over their interpersonal struggles. The lack of the boards willingness to fight to keep Dr. Flemming and the knee bending to Island Hospital dictums again says the board needs some serious soul searching and perhaps some shake up.
We are losing an important asset an exceptional member to our Island community for reasons that have I think a lot more to do with personalities than good business and much less good medical practice.
Oh and a transparency of procedure may be the only way we get to keep our better doctors.
I am wondering if, perhaps, the Orcas Medical Foundation, on behalf of our community, should look for a different affiliation for our Clinic. Perhaps there should be discussions with St. Joe’s/Peace Health in Bellingham, or Skagit General in Mt. Vernon. Our local history with Island Hospital has been tumultuous for quite some time. Is it time for a change????
As a 27 year resident of Orcas Island, I can say with confidence that Camille Fleming is one of the two best doctors I have had here–the other being the also exceptional Stan Williams. What is happening here and what can we, the residents of Orcas Island, do to keep her on the OIMC staff ? I am furious to think she is being shoved out the door of our clinic for some other than medical
practice reason, but I feel sure that is the truth as her competence cannot be
in question. KEEP DR. FLEMING HERE!