Last week marked a milestone for Vashon Island Fire & Rescue’s Mobile Integrated Health program, with the arrival of Paul McGown, a physician assistant (PA).

McGown, a full-time staffer, joins an MIH team that now includes three part-time registered nurses, a licensed social worker and a rotating roster of firefighter/EMTs who staff the program five days a week.

MIH, established on Vashon in March of 2024, assists islanders in the transition from hospital to home and checks in patients with both one-off illnessses and chronic conditions. Depending on their patients’ needs, the MIH team can perform such tasks as catheter cleaning, wound care, immunizations, medication management, nutitrion and wellness checks and fall prevention assessment. The program also provides assistance in navigating social services and accessing other health care providers.

But now, McGown’s hire means that MIH is able to expand its services to include all that a PA is authorized to do — including but not limited to diagnosing and treating illnesses, ordering tests, prescribing medications, developing treatment plans and performing a variety of procedures.

McGown’s work will take place both in islanders’ homes and a new private exam room at VIFR’s renovated Fire Station 55 serving walk-in patients.

The room includes such instruments as a manual and automatic blood pressure cuff, an ophthalmoscope for examining parts of the eye, an otoscope for examining the inside of the ear canal and ear drum, and a bright, overhead light for procedures including suturing.

McGown’s skills were put to immediate use during his first week on the job for MIH, when his tasks included suturing a deep cut on the finger of a patient who walked into the fire station on Thursday— the first time that the procedure had been done at the fire station.

The patient, McGown said in an interview on Friday, had economic hardships that he believed would have made it unlikely for them to seek medical care elsewhere.

McGown’s other patients during his first week on the job ranged from young children with coughs and head bumps to at least one centenarian, and resulted in him prescribing medicines for several patients.

McGown, 44, brings more than a decade of experience to his new job, having most recently served as PA for Tacoma’s Pulse Heart Institute, and before that, working for more than a decade as a PA for the Virginia Garcia Medical Health Center in Beaverton, Oregon, a federally qualified health care center serving many uninsured patients and migrant farm workers.

McGown speaks what he called “very good medical Spanish,” but will also rely, when the need arises on Vashon, to use interpreter services as a backup.

McGown’s hire was the culmination of a long hiring process, begun in late January, that attracted a number of highly qualified applicants for the post, said Lilie Corroon, the manager of the MIH program since its launch in March of 2024.

Vashon’s new fire chief, Bill McLaughlin, hailed McGown’s arrival in the district.

“I am very excited about the Mobile Integrated Health programs, and especially excited about adding our new physician’s assistant to our staff,” said McLaughlin, who stepped into his role in the first week of September. “The MIH program is filling a substantial need on the island, reducing the need for ambulances to take people off island and increasing local health care options. With Paul part of the team now, we are already seeing positive results.”

McGown, a Vashon resident since moving with his family to the island two years ago, said he believes the island’s geographic remoteness makes it an ideal place for MIH medicine.

“We are such a special community that has needs that are different from the mainland and bigger cities,” he said. “Being able to add this service through the fire department, which is seen as a safe place to go, is just a great option and I’m super excited to be a part of it.”

Corroon said she was thrilled to have McGown on board — citing his skillful work with patients as well as his immediate rapport with the three nurses currently working for MIH.

Vashon’s MIH program is part of a state and nationwide network of such programs that deliver healthcare in partnerships with Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers. Currently, Vashon’s program is funded entirely by a King County EMS levy and additional property tax revenues received by VIFR, with no additional costs to patients.

Christina Bosch, director of finance and human resources for the fire district, said that VIFR had budgeted for McGown’s hire for the remainder of 2025, and plans to budget for him and all other existing staff to remain with the program in 2026. VIFR, she also said, would continuing to look for partnerships, grants or other funding opportunities to help finance the expanding program.

One such opportunity could come as early as this week, with Vashon Health Care District now considering a detailed proposal to provide significant local funding for the MIH program. A document describing the proposal can be found on the Health Care District’s website, at tinyurl.com/5n7prnjb.

The board of the Health Care District discussed the proposal at its last regular board meeting on Aug. 28, and will meet jointly with the board of VIFR in a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17 (after press time) at VIFR’s Penny Farcy Building on Bank Road.

A vote on the proposal could come at that meeting, said Tim Johnson, superintendent of the Health Care District. Currently, among other programs, the Health Care District funds DispatchHealth, a for-profit mobile urgent care provider that accepts many forms of insurance. Supporting MIH’s work — which currently serves all islanders with or without health insurance — would also fulfill Vashon Health Care District’s mission, he said.

“We’re excited by the prospect of this partnership and how it will expand health care access on the island,” said Johnson.