Health Care District makes the big decision

— by Susan McBain, Orcas Issues reporter —

After more than two years of research, extensive consultation with experts and community members, and painstaking consideration of the costs and benefits of various choices, the five commissioners of the Orcas Island Health Care District voted unanimously to move into contract negotiations with Island Hospital (IH) to operate a consolidated medical clinic on Orcas.

The commissioners’ meeting on Aug. 4 began with their individual appraisals of IH’s proposal and presentation concerning what it planned to offer. All the commissioners agreed that there are still many details to be worked out about services, costs, and IH’s relationship with the District. But all felt positive about IH’s capabilities and willingness to work together to meet the Orcas community’s needs in a flexible, collaborative, and financially sustainable manner.

Commissioner Diane Boteler remarked that she was “very heartened by their willingness to look at their scope of service and the clinic as part of the
whole health care system on the island … We haven’t had that bigger focus in a long time. The focus on collaboration with EMS is especially welcome.”

However, the commissioners noted again that this decision does not mean they will definitely sign a contract with IH; that step will depend on the success of contract negotiations. At their next meeting on Aug. 18, the commissioners will discuss their individual positions on various issues to be negotiated, with the aim of reaching consensus among themselves on as many issues as possible before negotiations begin. Commissioners Pegi Groundwater and Art Lange will be the negotiators for the District.

Lange clarified details on one of the District’s main priorities, the process of obtaining care after hours. According to IH, when a caller phones the clinic number after hours, the call will go directly to a triage nurse in Anacortes, at either an IH walk-in clinic until 8 pm or the emergency room thereafter. The nurse will have a number of options:

• Advise the caller on home care, and message the Orcas clinic to contact the caller the following day if appropriate.
• Connect the caller directly to a provider at an IH walk-in clinic or the ER for consultation.
• Call the Orcas on-call provider, who will contact the caller directly and meet them in person if medically necessary.
• Call 911.

If EMS becomes involved in the call, the EMS personnel will have direct access to the Orcas on-call provider to collaborate on the decision about what action to take.

Finally, at the end of a planning process that took a year longer than expected, work to upgrade the clinic building with a new roof and improved HVAC system will begin in early September and take about
two months to complete.

The District’s next regular meeting will take place on Tuesday, Aug. 18, at 5 p.m. The Zoom link for the meeting will be posted on the District’s Meetings Calendar; click the link on Aug. 18 to see it.