— from Ed and Kristen Wilson —
We support the establishment of a Public Hospital District. Over the past 26 years we have lived here, we have watched the many iterations of our medical care system on Orcas Island. We’ve had fine doctors throughout the time we have lived here, but what we haven’t had is the ongoing assurance of after-hours urgent care. Only the very generous donations of a few community members paid for periodic 24-hour doctor coverage in past years.
We believe it is time for us to come together as a community to fix this for the peace of mind of families with young children, older residents, and everyone else who lives here.
Please join us in supporting a Public Hospital District.
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The proposed District will provide two things that we’ve never had before: (1) substantial, ongoing public funding that gives the pubic a stronger negotiating position and (2) an open, transparent and accountable governance process with audits that must address the true needs of our community.
It also allows Commissioners to contract with vendors (the two medical practices) in accountable ways that could improve efficiency and services through collaboration. For example, as part of the funding agreement, Commissioners could negotiate proposals to provide same day, after hours and urgent care services. The agreement could also provide incentives for the two practices to share after hours triage, urgent care and on-call duty as well as to improve their coordination with Emergency Medical Services (EMS).