Cancer Care, Screening Colonoscopies First to be Added
From Amy Cloud of PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center
PeaceHealth Peace Island Medical Center (PIMC), critical access hospital for the San Juan Islands, is adding new service lines and specialty services, while recruiting for an additional physician to increase access to primary care.
Later this month oncology care will be available and beginning in March residents will no longer need to go off-Island for a colonoscopy. Oncologist Jennie Crews, MD, medical director for the PeaceHealth St. Joseph Cancer Center, is scheduled to see patients at the Peace Island clinic on Mondays, beginning Feb. 18. Dawn Alger, RN, will be working with Dr. Crews to coordinate and provide regular infusion as well as chemotherapy infusion. For more information, contact Cynthia Cazacopol at PIMC, (360) 378-1723.
Another new service will be gastroenterology. As of Thursday, March 14, Dana Stiner, MD, will begin seeing patients at Peace Island Medical Center. The first on-Island screening colonoscopies are anticipated to begin the following Friday, March 22.
Colonoscopies are typically done to investigate the cause of changes in bowel habit or symptoms such as abdominal pain, blood in the stool or diarrhea, or previously discovered abnormalities in the colon. It is recommended that healthy people at normal risk for colon cancer undergo colonoscopy at age 50 and every 10 years thereafter.
Additional specialty services currently available at Peace Island:
Obstetrics: Melinda Milligan, Certified Nurse Midwife, is available the first Tuesday of each month. Phone (360) 376-4267 for an appointment.
Obstetrics/Gynecology: Robert Prins, MD, accepting appointments for the second Tuesday of each month. Phone (360) 299-5600 to schedule.
General Surgery: Joseph Mulcahy, MD, available the second Wednesday of each month. Call (360) 293-5142 for an appointment.
North Cascade Cardiology: for appointments on the first or fourth Friday of the month, please phone (360) 734-2700.
Ear, Nose, Throat: David Olson, MD. Phone (360) 733-0640 for an appointment the third Friday of the month.
Dermatology: Amber Fowler, MD, accepting appointments for the second Friday and third Wednesday of the month. Call (360) 336-3026 to schedule.
Behavioral Health: Carla Weston, ARNP, available for appointments the third Tuesday of each month. Phone (360) 376-3558 for an appointment.
For general information or to ask about billing, hospital district residents may phone 1-800-873-8253 (hospital) or 1-877-202-3597.
PeaceHealth Peace Island Medical Center– the result of a collaboration between the San Juan County Hospital District No. 1 and PeaceHealth – includes a ten-bed critical access hospital, primary care and specialty clinics, a cancer center, expanded diagnostic and treatment services, an operating suite for outpatient procedures and a 24-hour emergency department. Peace Island Medical Center operates as part of the PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in the PeaceHealth Northwest Network of Care, which includes a not-for-profit full-service hospital founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, and is part of the PeaceHealth system with medical centers in Alaska, Washington and Oregon. In addition to the hospital and PeaceHealth Medical Group, PeaceHealth’s services in Northwest Washington include several Centers of Excellence, North Cascade Cardiology, a diagnostic laboratory, a joint venture outpatient imaging service and a specialty clinic in Sedro-Woolley.
