— from Dr. Tony Giefer —
My last day practicing at Orcas Medical Center is Friday June 30, 2017. I have enjoyed the experience of practicing on Orcas Island for the last 12 years of my career and I am very thankful to the Orcas Medical Foundation and all of you for your kind support. I’m sorry the notice is so short but I just learned last week that I was not offered a position with the new UW Medicine clinic and my current contract with Island Hospital will be ending at the end of this month. Island Hospital will be sending letters to patients and Orcas Medical Center will continue operation until the UW Medicine clinic opens, though the hours and services may change.
I continue to have no doubt that the UW Medicine clinic on Orcas is absolutely the best thing for the island and remain completely supportive of this transition. UW Medicine is fully committed to start operations by 10/1/17 at the latest. MaryAnn and I will remain on the island and look forward to spending more time with our children and grandchildren.
My deepest appreciation to all those who have allowed me to play a role in their healthcare.
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Hey, Dr Tony; Many, many thanks for taking care of me over these many years. Fortunately, our inter-action has been low key and not anything that needed critical service. I regret that I have not been able to follow your prime advice to me ….”lose weight”. I will surely miss those annual physical exams when you have told me to “bend over” !!
Best regards. Enjoy being retired and spend extra time with those grandkids.
Thank you so much for your care of Bob and I during the years you served the residents and visitors of the island. We wish you a wonderful retirement and health to enjoy your family. God bless you and yours.
I will miss you at the OI Clinic. Your methods of treating me and my complaints have been spot on and I appreciate your sage advice and approach.
Spending time with grandkids is the best of all worlds. Enjoy your retirement.
THANK YOU.
Dr. Geifer:
Sorry to see you go. We just met you this spring when you sewed up an ankle laceration for one of our daughter’s school buddies–you were skillful and relaxed and put that very anxious girl at ease. You have the gift! Enjoy the family-
CA
This is a big loss for the island. Sorry to see you go.
Tony, I’ll miss you at OMF. Always appreciated you took the time to answer every question I might have had.
Enjoy the family, see you around. All the best !
Thank you, Dr. Giefer, for your care of my husband Fred during the last few years on Orcas. I appreciate your gentle treatment of him and your patience with me and all my questions. Enjoy your retirement!
Hi Tony – It has been a pleasure knowing you professionally and having an opportunity to share patients over the years. I recall the last day of my practice on Orcas many years ago. It was hard to walk out the door.
There will be many who miss you. May you and your family enjoy this new phase of your life in good health.
While I second the very nice messages to Dr. Giefer above, the question I have is why he wasn’t hired by UW. He has been the one constant throughout the last 12 years of turmoil and frequent turnover. And after all that time to be given only a few days’ notice? I think someone in the know needs to offer up some explanation. I think all of Dr. Giefer’s patients should be demanding an explanation from Orcas Medical Center and UW.
Thank you, Tony, for the care you have lavished upon me during the past many years.
You’ve done a couple of extremely good diagnoses on me, and have kept my pain issues well in control. And you also have given me some of the clearest and most easily understood explanations I have ever received from a medical practitioner.
I’m sorry to see you go, but I know that you were overworked from your first day on the job, and I agree that now you have every right to sit back and relax.
I can only hope that your replacement(s) will exhibit the same level of diagnostic ability, informational clarity, and professional attentiveness that I am pleased to have received from you.
You have my profound gratitude.
I’ll see you around.
I was afraid of this…How sad for us, the Patients…There is no way any replacement will be as professional and kind as Dr Giefer… How and what does UW think…that our beloved Dr was not kept at the clinic…how tragic…
I am in shock, however , I am not surprised….How could they find a better Physician…glad that he remains on Orcas and now can enjoy is life and grandchildren.
enjoy and THANK YOU
A big thank you for your thoughtful care. I understand from a variety of sources that life at the clinic has been tough for quite some time, not to mention a tough climate in the field itself. It takes a lot to put one foot in front of the other each day…and then there are the weekends. I wish you the very best! Thanks again.
Sad to see you go Dr. Giefer – thank you for your work at OMC.
:(
Dear Dr. Giefer, I too am sad to see you go, you are a fine doctor, you listen,
and you care. At least now I may see you fishing up at the lake!
Dear Dr. Giefer,
Thank you so much for your patient listening and excellent care of Dan and I over these past 6 years. You will be so missed! Still, it is a happy time coming for you and your family. If anyone deserves rest and relaxation it surely is you. We wish you all the best in your retirement. Sincere best wishes!
Dan and Diana Williams
Dear Dr. Geifer,
Thank you so much for your patient listening and excellent care of us over these past years. You will be so missed! Best wishes for many happy days in retirement.
Terribly sad. It has been a blessing to have Dr.Giefer watch over my medical issues with unwavering kindness, patience, gentleness and spot-on diagnosis. In this pressured, hurried world of medicine we live in he always made sure I went away feeling listened to, cared for and professionally guided. He met the pressures put on him to cover after-hours calls, long hours, ever-changing staff, etc. and didn’t crumble. Not sure many others could do as well under the circumstances at our clinic. It doesn’t sound as though this was handled in any way properly. Hopefully it is not a precurser to how UW intends to manage our unique community clinic going forward. But the best to come out of this is that dear Dr. Giefer can at last live a normal, relaxed Orcas life, filled with family and love.
Only one of the comments regarding the retirement of Tony Giefer asked why Dr. Giefer isn’t the key to a seamless transition to UWN. How sad. Sadder yet is the impact on the community to lose one of the pillars of the very best primary health care available anywhere. For Dr. Geifer to leave with 6 days notice could hardly be in the best interest of his patients, and very unlike the fine doctor and fine gentleman Tony Giefer is. But, it is what it is and is probably an early warning notice if, like me, you are a patient of either Russell or Shinstrom.
Wow, I was sure hoping that the UW conversion would allow me to keep the doctor I really like. If we get a bunch of rotating interns etc from UW I will be very disappointed. Guess that is what happens when we loose control of our healthcare.
Oh Dude! I will miss you in the professional world but I so hope you have time to rest and see people with their clothes on. You have been great to and for us. I won’t miss you but it is going to be sweet to see you when it isn’t blah blah blah old age.
Hi Tony, This is very sad news for us as patients. Hopefully good news for you and MaryAnn. You are so special. And – UW Medicine, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING. This man has held us together for years, through lots of craziness in our community. Not a good move on your part.
Mike, my mother (Rose Schreiber) and I will miss you very much. I know it has been a challenging environment these last few years, but we have always been treated with kindness and respect by you. You deserve a good retirement and I hope you have a great time with your family.
Hey Doc,
Who’s gonna sew me up now? You’re the best seamstress ever! Who needs tatoos when they’re covered in your beautiful work! But seriously, you have taken really good care of me – and you care. I sure am gonna miss you.
Love, Mike
A sad day, and not just for Giefer patients.
Dear Dr. Geifer,
Thank you so much for your incredible service to me and my family. I am extremely disappointed about this development. If you want someone to register a complaint against UW (or the OMC board) for their poor decision making please let me know. If you are happy to retire, well then please enjoy it. With my heart-felt thanks, Pete Moe
Tony. Since I first visited you and you proudly wore a Stage on the Green badge supporting us building that stage in 2006 I have had great respect for your dedication to our community.
I first must say while doing your landscape
your wife Maryanne was the most generous client and collaborator we have experienced. Her dedication to success was most of all -fun
As a doctor you helped me quit smoking years ago and advised me through many health issues including helping me through potential heart issues that have plagued my family of Greenings As a family doctor you have always been there. I too am astonished that the new UW or OMC board has acted to terminate your contract and hope they can shed some light on this decision for USA as community that supported this transition. Thanks Tony
Hi all, I’m Tony’s son and I just read through all of these comments. Thank you for sharing these sentiments about my dad. They are all such amazingly nice words. I know he and my mom have really fallen in love with all of you and life on Orcas. While I know a part of him will miss working, I’m really excited for him to spend more time with my daughter and new baby.
The question is: Why is Orcas Medical Center bleeding staff? I transferred my care elsewhere prior to this latest resignation. Can Orcas Issues report on this?
Congratulations Tony on your wonderful care to so many people!! You will be missed!!
Having been a true supporter of our Orcas Medical Clinic for 46 years it is with great distain that I feel we have been let down because our Board has not been able to find a way to keep Dr Giefer here at our clinic . Island Hospital calls the shots until October then UW medicine takes over . None of these parties have any idea how short sighted they are in really caring how this maneuver affects the patients of Orcas Medical Clinic . We had put our trust , with our dollars to bring the UW Medical into play .Well they lost this round by not keeping Dr Giefer on . It is mind boggling to find THE PROFESSIONALS in the medical world can’t see how they have short changed themselves and US by not securing Dr Giefer for as long as possible. I am disgusted with the OMF , Island Hospital and UW Medical for not being able to handle this better for all including Tony and US his patients.
On further thought..We Islanders willing and quickly contributed 750K or so…to help ensure the continued care “and keep our Doctor”…Now the first 300K or so will go to electronic records…With No Doctor…until when?…Priorities, you know.
And the short notice to Doctor Giefer…Now if he wanted to slip out quitely…more power to him. but for .. the incoming “managers” to not keep our trusted Doctor….
makes me wonder? And ditto to the above comments
The Orcas Medical Foundation (OMF) board of directors wishes to thank Dr. Giefer for all that he has done for the Orcas Medical Center and the Orcas community over the past 12 years. While we are very disappointed to see him leave, we appreciate all of his wonderful years of service.
There have been some questions from the community that we feel rightly deserve to be answered and are hoping that this comment may be able to help by providing some clarification.
Island Hospital’s (IH) contract to manage the clinic on Orcas and to employ all the staff there was set to expire on 12/31/16, just as OMF was beginning negotiations with UW Medicine; IH agreed to enter into a 6-month extension agreement through 6/30/17 in order to keep the clinic open until UW Medicine was in place. However, the transition has taken a bit longer than originally hoped; an additional extension agreement was needed – an agreement which provided for IH to continue managing the clinic and employing all the staff for an additional 3-month period from 7/1/17 through 9/30/17. Each employee at the clinic had the opportunity to either sign or not sign his or her extension agreement. Dr. Giefer chose not to sign his extension employment agreement and decided, instead, to retire as of 6/30/17, when his current contract is due to expire.
While the OMF board was hopeful that Dr. Giefer would continue as the clinic’s physician until the UW transition was complete, we would like you to know that IH is currently assembling a patient care team that will enable the clinic to remain open during the summer and until UW Medicine is in place – currently scheduled for early September. We anticipate a number of familiar faces filling in to provide care for the Orcas community during our busy summer season. The schedule should be available shortly.
OMF always understood that UW Medicine had complete authority to select and hire all the staff at the clinic; that, however, does not change the fact that we are saddened to see Dr. Giefer leave. Please know that we wish him the very best, including some deserved time off and much more time to spend with his family and, especially, with his grandchildren.
Thank you Leslie for answering the question of contracts. That sheds a lot of light on what actually happened if one is willing to actually read and put together the progression of events. I am positive the resurrection of our clinic through the knowledgable hands of UW will be a huge benefit to us all… if we are willing to remain open to the concept change. Wishing Dr. Giefer the happiest of retirements and a huge CHEERS to the staff that is holding everything together among the chaos.
Tony: Thank you for the years of good care and, more importantly, the friendship and trust. Yours will be difficult shoes to fill.
I agree with B. Arnold. Thank you, Leslie, for filling in the blanks.
When we moved to Orcas Island a decade ago, my husband, Dr. Jim Calhoon faced many challenges. Jimmie, a retired cardio thoracic surgeon, had been battling type 1 diabetes for more than 45 years. We were amazed to find Dr. Giefer who was able to address Jimmie’s very complex health challenges. Dr. Giefer held Jimmie’s deep trust, appreciation and respect for the last three years of Jim’s life. Dr. Giefer has been my physician as well. I am very saddened and dismayed at this news. Yes, indeed, difficult shoes to fill.
Yes, thank you Leslie!
“Dr. Giefer chose not to sign his extension employment agreement and decided, instead, to retire as of 6/30/17, when his current contract is due to expire.” (Leslie)
Vs.
“I just learned last week that I was not offered a position with the new UW Medicine clinic and my current contract with Island Hospital will be ending at the end of this month.” (Dr. Giefer)
Hhhmmmmmmm…. one of these things is not like the other…..
Dear Dr. Giefer,
Words cannot express the sadness Ron and I feel at losing you. Over the past twelve years we’ve grown to love you so very much and appreciated how much time you gave to both of us patiently listening, advising, prescribing and setting us on the road to good health.
You diagnosed me so many years ago with a major problem and with time I’ve become healthy as a horse! Now what will I do without you when you’re not around on my annual wellness exam day?
UW isn’t the fine institution we once thought it was knowing that you were not offered a position with them. They’re terribly shortsighted if they think they can send some peachfuzz-faced kid out to handle some older folks who need a kind and caring family doctor they can talk with. Rats!
We wish you and your family time to finally relax together and not be on call for years on end. Enjoy your grandchildren! We will miss you so much!
Hugs and love to you,
Susie and Ron
Ugh! As I read the two explanations of Gr. Giefer’s exit, he chose to not sign a contract that would expire Sept 30. UW did not offer him a contract beyond Sept 30. Didn’t he say, “on my terms, not yours”?. Why not?
Of course, the “change” to UW will work but “will” or “won’t” isn’t the question. The question is “on what level” and “how much will it cost”
It’s clear to see how all of us love and appreciate Dr. Geifer’s wonderful care. Put aside disgruntled feelings about how his retirement came about and remember that this should be about ‘his’ good welfare first…..not our own! After all, one man, however skilled and dedicated cannot be expected to go on indefinitely until he is burned out.
First of all, congratulations to Dr Giefer for a well-deserved retirement. You have provided excellent care for my wife Evangeline and I for the last several years, and we look forward to seeing you as time moves on.
Secondly, and of significant importance, is that it is a shame and troubling that OMF and UW did not have the foresight to provide a robust transition plan from the current PCP to the new PCP(s).
Every company with any concern at all for its current customers (in this case we the patients) realizes that in the event of a merger or purchase of another business it is imperative to provide a transition period during which the incoming key personnel (in this case the PCP) may work with the current key personnel (also the PCP) to provide as smooth a transition as possible for both customers and remaining staff. This is especially important in a business in which personal service is the primary product.
Asute management on both sides (who have probably studied numerous cases in business school) realize that business records alone (in this case our patient records) do not adequately contain all the nuances of customer needs and expectations, or even service culture, which must be taken into account to adequately service customers during and after transition.
That is the reason that old and new key personnel usually work side by side during the transition period, so that important information is communicated clearly, person to person. This approach always results in a higher level of customer satisfaction, because the customer feels that they are being taken care of not just adequately, but in the best manner possible. It also makes it considerably easier on the incoming key service provider(s), as they are not operating in a vacuum, with little if any guidance.
It seems to me, and based on the comments regarding this situation, I’m not alone, that both UW and OMF really dropped the ball regarding the transition period from the current to new key service providers.
It is very disappointing that the highly important service of healthcare on our island has devolved into this unnecessarily difficult transition period.
I am a supporter of and still sincerely believe that our island health care service needs to move in the 21st century direction proposed by UW. However I did expect a much better planned and executed transition.
It would be wise of both UW and OMF to 1) take a few steps back and explore what could be done to try to salvage the transition situation and 2) publish very soon a clear transition plan through at least the end of the calendar year.
These steps will certainly help to reduce the many concerns of the current patients.
Dr Giefer is an excellent physician. He is knowledgable, stays current, is efficient, fosters preventive medicine, is an active listener, is kind and has been very dedicated to the community. In all of my over 45yrs of medical experience I can attest that he is one of the best physicians that I have met, and he will be greatly missed. Sadly the OMF may have taken Dr. Giefer for granted.
Related to this, I question whether the OMF knows how to negotiate with UW to get the best for the community. Yes, UW is the driver, but absolute complete authority without guidance from the Board or a qualified advisory committee is not a recipe for success.
The OMF now has failed in planning and executing an appropriate transition with UW. Does the OMF realize that the Medical Center is a valuable resource, and each person with medical records should be regarded as a shareholder? Our suggestions and recommendations should be respected. There have been many qualified, excellent physicians who have left the Medical Center. Why? So now I question was it the Island Hospital management contract that was the problem that caused physicians to leave, or was the OMF not supportive of the physicians and because of this they subsequently chose to leave?
The OMF needs to empower themselves to negotiate what is best for the Orcas community. Things that work in the city may not work here. This is not directed at any specific Board member, but we need strong assertive experienced individuals who realize the Medical Center is a valuable resource that should work for the community, not make life more difficult for patients and physicians.
The community members will not emotionally or financially support a revolving door of physicians or residents; we need anchor experienced physicians onsite.
OMF needs to explain fully actions taken, decisions made and be transparent. The OMF may not get funds from the community again if they are not assertive and supportive of Orcas’s needs. We don’t need a repeat of the Island Hospital experience.
Respectfully,
Dr. Evangeline O’Sullivan
Thank you for your dedication, care and patience for all the patients on Orcas and the tourists from other locales that you have spent time with all these years. Practicing rural medicine is not a gold mine of riches except for those of us who relied on you to be here when we needed attention.
I’ve always been impressed with your expertise and particularly appreciated your evaluation when I injured my hand then you quickly identified a specialist who would take care of the damage. Without that response, I would have had one less digit and would never have learned how to knit.
Knowing you as a patient and as a Board Member of the Orcas Medical Foundation has been rewarding and enlightening. I am happy for you and your family that you will no longer be “on call” and look forward to new encounters with you at the many other venues on our island. Joe and I wish you all the peace and happiness you have so dearly earned.
Dr. Geifer, we will miss your dedication, your professionalism, and your ability to steer the Center in the right direction. Many thanks!
John and Joan Fletcher
I’ve never met a more caring and compassionate physician as Dr. Giefer, and I feel heartbroken over hearing this news. I travel from Anacortes to Orcas for Dr. Giefer, as he is one-of-a-kind.
Orcas Island can talk all it wants about having more advanced care, but id take Dr. Giefer and how he truly cared over a computer system ANY DAY.
UW Med will not come close to replacing the loss of such a great physician.