— from Velma Doty —
To Those Who Care: I want send a message about the current and past medical issues.
Times have changed since a group of islanders gathered together and formed the Medical Building Association that has maintained a facility to offer opportunities for us to have medical care for more than 60 years.
Their challenge has changed and grown over the years but the boards of the old and now the current Orcas Medical Foundation remains constant. To insure Orcas has a facility and health care options. A task dealt with like no others.
In recent years with other options being offered privately, efforts have been made more than once to bring the practices into a form that is sustainable for all. Once again this is a possibility.
We all recognize the modern technical knowledge that enables the quick transfer and access to consulting parties in addressing our medical needs. Some times absolutely vital. This is a major investment and can not keep pace on an individual scale.
One could relate as: When just married a small cabin will be sufficient / when the family has grown to several children the parents must see to the problems presented and seek solutions even to finding funds to change their situation.
The Orcas Medical Foundation has sought a solution by inviting UW Medical to assist in addressing the future of medical care for Orcas. This needs an investment from the owners which is US. I trust the OMF board to do their best, as others have in the past to seek the best continuing direction.
Not one of the doctors now practicing on the island can solely be the solution or will be here in the decades coming. The OMF was formed following in the foot steps of the original Medical Building Association. The goals to insure we have a facility to offer and assistance to maintain health care for our island are the same.
I ask you to let them know that goal is still what we need by helping fund the gap to get us beyond the band aid approach. Many tho small make mighty.
After the OMF’s last attempt to scare people into funding this, I have to say, I do NOT trust that the OMF board is driving this in the best interest of the community. It’s starting to feel more like a desperate attempt to keep a broken entity afloat. This is not a decision to be rushed through because of a deadline, especially if a local solution to our medical needs Is even a remote possibility.
It is remarkable that OMF is perceived as making an ‘attempt to scare people into funding this’. Let me share one perspective on this notion.
First, the majority of the funds committed to date have come from donors willing to write checks of $10,000 to $ 75,000. Those who make such donations are in no way operating out of ‘fear’ – to the contrary I suggest they are coming from a place of ‘care’.
Donors with the financial capacity to so contribute are also generally thoughtful about what they give to. Fear simply doesn’t enter the mindset.
Second, we need a longer term solution to the somewhat fractured medical provisioning in our community. Will the UW option solve this with certainty – and right away? I don’t think anyone would argue that case.
But the UW option is a fresh start with a credible medical institution that may offer the opening to heal some of the divisions (and lack of trust) that exist today.
Third, once funds are raised (through commitments), the task of negotiating a relationship with UW begins. That will take (perhaps) several months – and will be a thoughtful and balanced process – with full transparency to both the community and the donors who have agreed to funding. I would anticipate and expect – given the concerns expressed by many – that the process must be deliberate and open.
We have a ways to go – but the element of FEAR is not the motivating factor for me (or those with whom I have had conversations).
Joseph, I was specifically referring to the “‘It’s now or never Orcas” letter submitted by the OMF board recently, please see: https://theorcasonian.com/letter-editor-now-never-orcas/
If that’s not a blatant attempt to manipulate the community by instilling fear, I don’t know what would be.
My wife and I are both physicians and have been considering retirement to Orcas. We were there for a couple of weeks recently and attended the UW/OMF meeting at Orcas Center. During our time there we deliberately spoke to many health care providers and island doctors. It was interesting that the only person who supported this UW-levy approach was affiliated with OMF. Every other health care person told us to let OMF go under, and assured us that there were physicians, nurses and others waiting to fill the gap. Not an exhaustive survey, but perhaps worthwhile observations to share.Pretty interesting. Good luck. You have an amazing community of caring people and will solve this problem.
The issue that frustrates me is the OMF Board itself. I may have said previously that the members of that board are not elected by the community. In effect, the OMF is a pre-hospital district organization and should have representatives elected by us all. Why, too, are the top two persons on that board off-island persons?
Velma is correct in that we, as a community, have addressed this need for a decent medical facility for a long time. She certainly remembers the “old, old days” when Dr. Barber was our sole physician. That having been said, I don’t understand the need to be “plugged in to” the UW system for some $700,000. If I have a medical emergency that requires the facilities offered by a major hospital, then fly me there. We do not have the medical facilities nor technology here to deal with any major event.
If I am in need of assistance, I call 911, and the OIFR team is in my driveway in five minutes.
I say again the we, as a community, need to deal with this complex issue, quickly, as the average age of folks on Orcas is over 60. Someone needs to step up and pull the conflicting groups together on this matter.
Ed- The OMF is a nonprofit- not a taxing district. Nonprofit boards are self selecting. Both the president, Cathy Henderson, and the VP, Leslie Murdock, are residents of Deer Harbor. While many of us from Olga may feel Deer Harbor is another world, it is, indeed still part of Orcas. If we, as a community, want to vote in a Hospital Taxing District, we will then be able to vote for a Board to govern those dollars. As long as we rely on generous donors to ‘mind the gap’ we will also rely on willing volunteers to fill the board.
I suspect your health care needs are different now than they were in the ‘old days’ We are an aging population. As an EMT, I can tell you that having a highly functional local clinic that helps folks manage their health is critical for our community. Being flown off should really be a last resort, not a care plan.