With the August closure of the longtime clinic at Sunrise Ridge growing closer, several island agencies that are part of the island’s extended health care community are taking concrete steps to prepare for the change, while the group working to stabilize island medical care says it is continuing its efforts to develop sustainable health care on the island.

The Vashon-Maury Health Collaborative will hold a public meeting on July 8 and provide information about what bringing in a large provider will require from the island as well as what will be needed to develop a community-owned clinic. Meanwhile, leaders of affected organizations, such as Vashon’s fire department and some of its social service organizations, are working to put plans in place to address their agencies’ needs after the clinic’s Aug. 5 closing date.

Vashon Island Fire & Rescue Chief Hank Lipe has repeatedly expressed concerns about increased call volume at a time when the fire department’s resources are already stretched thin. In recent weeks, he has been working with King County officials on a plan to bolster the department’s capabilities on an interim basis. Lipe, who plans to leave the department June 30, said he hopes to have that plan finished this week.

Last week at a fire commissioners’ meeting, he noted the plan is important to him and said he would like to leave the department with a contingency plan in place.

Vashon Community Care (VCC) will also be affected by the closure of the Franciscan clinic, as by law it must provide a medical director and access to a physician for residents’ ongoing medical needs. The current medical director is Jeffrey HansPetersen, MD, who is a physician at the Franciscan clinic and is not expected to continue as VCC’s medical director once the clinic closes, center officials say. Additionally, most of the center’s residents in the assisted living facility see providers at the the Franciscan clinic. With the future of health care on Vashon uncertain, VCC Administrator Dax Dowling said he recently interviewed an island physician for the center’s medical director position and is hopeful that process will be finalized this week. Dowling added VCC’s goal is to hire a physician who would serve as the center’s medical director and provide care for residents in both the skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. Should a new clinic be established on the island, residents would have a choice of going to that clinic or remaining with the in-house physician.

Dowling spoke optimistically last week about the hiring process.

“I am hopeful,” he said. “We are almost there.”

At Vashon Youth & Family Services, Executive Director Kathleen Johnson said she has just begun trying to ensure that medical care will continue to be available to the agency’s clients, many of whom are Medicaid and Medicare recipients. Johnson noted that members of the health collaborative addressed the Vashon Social Services Network this month and she is aware they are working on an interim clinic, but she struck a cautionary note.

“The process of what they are trying to do is hard,” she said. “It is more likely there will be a delay than they will come in ahead of schedule, and we need to start planning for that.”

Johnson previously spearheaded a conversation with the county regarding the importance of island social service agencies receiving more funds, and she again looked to the county in this situation.

“We need money,” she said. “I think that the county needs to step up and do more for the island in a concrete fashion. The island contributes a great deal to the rest of the county welfare through its tax base.”

She credited the collaborative members with doing a great deal of work, but added she believes the island is suffering because of its unincorporated status in this situation.

“Who in our local government is standing up and saying, ‘I am going to fix this because it is a serious problem.’ I just do not see it,” she said.

At King County, Director of Regional Initiatives Diane Carlson, who works in Executive Dow Constantine’s office, said county officials want to support the work of the Vashon-Maury Health Collaborative, but she said the county does not have money to help bring a provider, such as UW Medicine, to the island.

“We do not have county money to invest in that kind of activity, period,” she said.

Like Lipe, she noted that the county officials are working on an interim plan with the fire department for potential increases in calls. Also, she said, in response to health collaborative members’ inquiries concerning the possible creation of a hospital district, county officials will provide information on tax rates as well as the required process for putting a hospital district on the ballot.

Lan Nguyen, a legislative aide to King County Councilmember Joe McDermott, said McDermott has been working with the Executive’s office on the the issue of Vashon health care, and has begun looking into the requested information on hospital districts.

“We are all very aware there is ticking clock here,” she said. “We want to make sure what some of the paths are and what the steps are to support the community and the decision the community makes.”

The county wants to be supportive, she said, but like Carlson, she does not foresee county financial assistance as part of that support.

“I have not seen anything that is a short-term, easy answer,” she added. “I know there are a lot of people are thinking about this and trying to work on ideas.”

While the county is providing information on a hospital district to fund health care services over the long-term, John Jenkel, an attorney with the Vashon-Maury Health Collaborative, said members are currently focusing primarily on the island’s short-term medical needs and what it would take to establish an interim clinic.

“We are concentrating on trying to get a functional solution with as little gap as possible after the Franciscans leave,” Jenkel said.

Group members have not yet determined where an interim clinic would be located and are evaluating the relative merits of different options, he said. They are also talking to island providers and other potential staff members.

The critical key in this process is scale, Jenkel added.

“If it is too big, you do not make efficient use of island resources,” he said. “If it is too small, you don’t achieve the necessary critical mass to serve the island population and deliver the services in an economically sound manner.”

Jenkel added he believes that it would be best for an interim facility to start out small and grow into something larger over time. The collaborative is taking a phased approach, he added. Establishing an interim clinic is step one, and that would be followed by creating a permanent solution and then detailed discussion of a hospital district. He noted that he hopes to receive requested information about a hospital district soon, including how and if the creation of such a district would affect the fire and parks departments, the effects of a new taxing district on homeowners’ property tax bills and how long it would take to receive money if islanders vote on and approve a district.

He added the intent of the group is not to patch Vashon’s current system of health care, but to create a robust, sustainable system.

“There are a lot of angles, and we are trying to juggle them and make them come into focus at the same time,” he said.

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The Vashon-Maury Health Collaborative will host its public meeting at 6:30 p.m. Friday, July 8, in the Great Room at the Vashon High School. For more information, see VMHealth.org and future issues of The Beachcomber.