Letter to Editor | Thanks to Community for Participation

—  from Board of Commissioners, Orcas Island Health Care District —

The Commissioners of the Orcas Island Health Care District extend our warm thanks to all of you for participating in the recent survey about healthcare services on Orcas. Your thoughtful responses and comments will help guide us as we finalize contracts with the clinics for the next year and help us set priorities for the future.

Shortly after the District was formed, the Board began discussing how to engage with the Orcas community to make sure that we hear from a larger portion of the community than the few who seek us out individually or attend our meetings. We decided that the best way for us to hear from more of you was through a combination of town hall meetings and short, focused surveys.

The primary focus of the survey was to learn what kind of acute care services the community wants and test the community’s willingness to pay more in taxes to receive those services. Additionally, we wanted to gauge satisfaction with the medical care currently available on Orcas to help guide our discussions in negotiations with the clinics.

The Board asked Madrona Voices to conduct the survey because of their experience conducting several surveys on local issues on their own initiative. By collaborating with them, the Board was able to have some influence over which questions were asked and how questions were phrased. However, because the survey was conducted by Madrona Voices, they retained control over how and when the results were presented and what was made publicly available, including the comments.

We thank you for your candid feedback which we will use to prioritize our interactions with the clinics to improve the services they offer. We also provided each clinic with a copy of the compiled survey responses and the text of the comments.

Again, thank you very much for taking the time to complete the survey. We appreciate your input.