Letter to the Editor: Health Care District Appreciates Questions

— by Richard Fralick,President, Orcas Island Health Care District–

On behalf of the Orcas Island Health Care District Board of Commissioners (San Juan County Public Hospital District #3), I would like to thank everyone who attended our first Town Hall meeting. Your questions were very thoughtful, and we hope each Commissioner responded in a manner that explained our financial planning and the status of negotiations with the two clinics.

We very much want to hear from ALL members of our community, and we will be looking at engaging with you in a variety of ways. Just this week, an online survey was launched in collaboration with Madrona Voices. The survey focuses on several timely issues that impact current negotiations with the two clinics. We recognize not everyone has internet access and are looking to make sure our communications and activities are available in other formats. We are trying to keep surveys short, topical and easy to understand. We encourage everyone who received the September survey to take a few minutes to complete. If you didn’t receive the survey via email and would like to participate in the online survey process, please visit www.madronavoices.com to register.

The Commissioners would also like to thank a few people who helped make the Town Hall a success. This includes: (1) Lisa Byers for doing a masterful job of facilitating the meeting with great skill; (2) Dimitri Stankevich for allowing use of Camp Orkila’s excellent public address system with wireless mics, and helping with set up so the audience could be clearly heard; (3) Fire Chief Scott Williams who helped greatly with the logistics and room set-up; (4) Anne Presson, our Superintendent, for a fine job with all the planning and preparations; and (5) Pierrette Guimond for her help in planning and hosting the event.

Our next Town Hall meeting will be held on Thursday, September 20^th from 6-8 pm at the Eastsound Fire Hall. We hope to get a good representation of the community and we encourage everyone to take advantage of the opportunity to engage with the Board. We want to effectively represent your interests and needs, and greatly appreciate the opportunity to serve the community.