||| FROM ORCAS ISLAND HEALTH CARE DISTRICT |||
The Orcas Island Health Care District will be holding our regularly scheduled Board Meeting on Wednesday June 24th from 5-7 PM at the Orcas Island Public Library. The Health Care District expects that individuals will be in attendance to share public comment regarding the employment termination of Dr. Simpson-Manske. We are asking for your cooperation as we seek to provide a process to receive and hear your comments, while still allowing the board to conduct the regular board meeting business.
Within the Health Care District’s policies, we allow three minutes of public comment per person, with a total of 10 minutes of public comment at the beginning of the meeting. There is more flexible time at the end of the meeting, per our Rules for Conduct of Commissioners’ Meetings policy. We are asking that you submit your public comment ahead of time to the superintendent using our contact us form or by email – https://www.orcashealth.org/
For those still interested in providing public comment during the meeting, we recommend collaborating with others to provide group or a collation of comments. Estimated times of public comment periods for the meeting are:
Estimated time of first public comment period: 5:00 – 5:15 PM
Estimated time of second public comment period: 6:40 – 7:00 PM
Details on the OIHCD Regular Board Meeting, including how to join virtually, can be found on the board meeting event page – https://www.orcashealth.org/
We appreciate the outpouring of support for Dr. Simpson-Manske. We as a Health Care District have heard the overwhelming evidence of the type of care that many have come to expect at Island Primary Care – Orcas because of her care. We hope to continue to steward similar expectations for care at the clinic.
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It seems our Hospital District board operates like Island Hospital.
A specific limited timeframe
to hear complaints/concerns, regardless of the situation.
I understand that a regular board meeting is not set up to discuss new issues with multiple stakeholders in attendance.
However, I do not understand how a public entity, funded with the public’s money, would not set up a special meeting to discuss a situation that obviously is of great concern to the very people that the Board serves.
This Board states “We hope to continue to steward similar (hopefully this means high) expectations for care at the clinic.”
I really don’t care if a special meeting causes the board to be inconvenienced. However I care very deeply about losing a fantastic Doctor and potentially having to go off island for proper Primary Medical Care. I also care very deeply that our Hospital District Board “hopes” to steward the care at the clinic. It would be wonderful if they would demonstrate actual stewardship by working with Island Hospital to undo this very bad situation.