Sea Mar’s new clinic takes shape
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Nearly a year into the construction of Sea Mar’s new uptown Vashon clinic, more specifics come into focus regarding staffing and the services the facility plans to provide.
The new clinic will include dentistry and behavioral health services — care that the current facility at Sunrise Ridge doesn’t have the space to accommodate, said Sea Mar Community Health Centers Senior Vice President Harshiem Ross.
“It allows us to provide more services, and additional services to the community that we feel they’ll be able to take advantage of and not have to go off the island as much,” Ross said. “It’s gonna be a big deal for folks.”
More services mean more staff will be required to operate the clinic. Ross says Sea Mar is currently working to recruit dental staff and behavioral health providers, as well as additional receptionists, a medical assistant supervisor and a nurse manager. Providers currently working at Sunrise Ridge will also be transitioned to the new location. Current job openings for the clinic can be found at tinyurl.com/5yp3vvv2.
But Vashon’s isolated geography poses unique challenges, and attracting medical providers willing to travel to the island each day remains an ongoing process, said Ross.
“The primary challenge of recruiting for Vashon is just the commute — there’s just not enough folks that live on the island that are qualified to do the work or even interested in doing the work,” Ross said.
Sea Mar’s medical apprenticeship program is one pathway to recruitment. The program provides students and medical residents hands-on learning experience, with a two-year contract to work at Sea Mar clinics upon completion, Ross said.
Sea Mar has already onboarded a medical assistant through the apprenticeship program, with another expected to join in an upcoming cohort, Ross said.
The mismatch between patient demand and provider availability isn’t unique to Vashon — rather, it’s a part of a larger phenomenon impacting health care systems across the country. For many, it can look like having trouble scheduling an appointment, longer wait times in medical settings and less time with providers.
The country’s aging population — across both patients and providers — means there’s more demand for health care at the same time that many providers are reaching retirement age, according to a March 2024 report from the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Healthcare providers also have relatively high rates of burnout compared to other professions, according to a study that surveyed both U.S. physicians and those working in other jobs. After the COVID-19 pandemic, Vashon Health Care District Superintendent Tim Johnson says many left the profession.
The United States is expected to face a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036 (tinyurl.com/yv7zfcuz), reported the Association of American Medical Colleges. Nearly half of that number is made up of projected shortfalls in primary care physicians.
At Sea Mar’s new location, more exam rooms, more space to work comfortably and a modern feel might make a difference when it comes to attracting providers, Johnson said.
“Like everybody else, a physician is looking at …‘What are the facilities I’m working in,’ so having newer modern facilities would be more of a draw,” Johnson said.
In addition to behavioral health services and dentistry, the new building will also house space for a pharmacy in the event that Vashon Pharmacy becomes non-operational in the future.
Ross says Sea Mar incorporates pharmacy space in all their new facilities, only becoming functional if patients lose access to a community’s existing pharmacy. “We are not looking to open a pharmacy … It’s more of a just-in-case situation.”
Rumblings of a potential competing pharmacy on the island initially caused concern, given the presence of Vashon Pharmacy that has thrived as the island’s sole pharmacy for decades.
Vashon Pharmacy owner Tyler Young says he expects his pharmacy to be operational long-term.
”Vashon Pharmacy has served this island long before I arrived; it’s been doing it for well over fifty years,” Young said. “I’m 38 years old, I’m nowhere near retirement, nor do I have any intention of having Vashon Pharmacy be anything but an independent pharmacy.”
Sea Mar will continue to contract with Vashon Pharmacy, and the only drugs stocked on site at Sea Mar’s new location will be medications like Tylenol, Ross said.
Construction is expected to be completed by mid to late July, with doors opening in late August or early September. Ross says there will be no lapse in care between the two locations. With framing and roofing on the building completed, work on the building’s mechanical and electrical systems has begun.
Once final exterior and interior work is completed in the next few months, Ross said the community will be left with a “state-of-the-art facility” uptown, welcoming a new chapter of health care on Vashon.
