— from Tony Giefer MD —

As a physician who provided medical care on Orcas for over 12 years, I wish to comment on some of the current issues.

The initiator of the petition to keep the UW clinic on Orcas, and many of the commentators, have told their anecdotal stories of the great benefit they have received from UW Medicine Clinic. These stories are powerful and meaningful. But there are also many stories from people who feel they have not been well served by UW. The commissioners are very aware of these stories and are also aware of other issues, notably financial, that most of us are not aware of. The commissioners need to be mindful of what is best for over 5000 inhabitants of Orcas and countless visitors.

Island Hospital (IH) left Orcas twice because it lost money on an endeavor outside its tax base — Skagit Hospital District. Since then, there has been a major change. Orcas voted overwhelmingly to establish the Orcas Island Hospital District which provides tax money to pay for maintaining medical services on the island. We can now contribute funding for maintenance of our medical services.

When IH notified us that they were leaving, The Orcas Medical Foundation Board and I diligently searched for an organization with which to affiliate. UW was the ONLY party interested. Because they were the only option, it seemed that the one million dollars so generously raised by islanders was for UW. In a sense it was, but the majority of the money was used to fund operating the clinic for many months until tax revenues were received. A minority of the money was used to upgrade the electronics and computers of the clinic. Part of that minority paid for EPIC – the electronic medical record.

The Commission’s Request for Proposal (RFP) includes some particularly important medical services which were provided on Orcas before UW came, but have not been a part of UW services, including “After Hours Acute Care”.

We have elected commissioners who have given us their talent and countless hours considering information on which to base their decisions. The issues are multifaceted and complex. Please allow them to do what they were elected to do.

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