Editorial: Decisions loom for island urgent care

Published 1:30 am Friday, August 9, 2024

Vashon Island Fire & Rescue (VIFR) has now shared its ambitious plan to expand Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) to provide urgent care on the island. (See the page 1 story in this week’s paper.)

This news comes as the Vashon Healthcare District (VHCD) has made investments in island behavioral healthcare and continues to evaluate how it should support urgent care.

Between new urgent care options, expanded care at Vashon Pharmacy and island behavioral health providers, and the advent of Sea Mar’s new primary care facility in the middle of town, we dare to hope that 2025 will be a banner year for healthcare on Vashon.

Until then, though, we have important decisions to make.

We believe that the boards and executives of both the Healthcare District and VIFR have diligently worked to find the best urgent care option for the island throughout this process. That work is to be commended.

Nonetheless, real disagreements remain.

Fire Chief Matt Vinci is frank in his belief that MIH can more sustainably fill the urgent care gap, without the help of a private, off-island provider — and at a significantly lower cost to taxpayers. Vinci’s vision builds on VIFR’s swift and effective implementation of its current MIH program.

Health Care District Superintendent Tim Johnson says DispatchHealth, a private mobile urgent care provider, could be a powerful partner to VIFR in that work on the island, and that subsidizing that company’s operations on Vashon — for as long as it’s needed — would be an effective use of islanders’ tax dollars.

Reams of paperwork, hours of public meetings, and plenty of Beachcomber ink have been well-spent exploring those perspectives.

Now, islanders need to see a decision begin to emerge.

As of press time, VHCD and VIFR are hard at work finding a time and a place for a joint public meeting to hash this topic out. Vashon Pharmacy owner Tyler Young could be invited, to discuss the pharmacy’s soon-to-open walk-in clinic. A representative from Sea Mar Community Health Center could also be invited, to listen and learn about the many unmet needs of our community.

A decision doesn’t need to be made at that meeting. But it would be a chance to lay out all the options and costs, and allow community members to weigh in.

We’ve also asked both Johnson and Vinci to submit a commentary — written by them or by their boards — for publication in The Beachcomber this month so the public has a chance to see their vision and thinking laid out plainly. As of press time, Vinci has agreed.

Let’s back up. Why is this all so important?

The median age of Vashon residents is around 55, compared to around 35 for mainland King County. Our population is prone to the pratfalls of older age, increased complications from respiratory illnesses, and other serious chronic conditions — a reason that MIH has proven to be a great fit for our community.

As Vinci pointed out in a recent VIFR board meeting, our fire department leads the county in non-transport emergency medical calls — in other words, people here have many reasons to need at-home care.

We’re also a rural community spread across a large island. We have a primary care clinic through Sea Mar that is currently struggling with staffing, and no hospitals or urgent care facilities on the island. Our flagging ferry service makes it difficult to reach healthcare by car.

These factors make the prospect of mobile urgent care — healthcare delivered to islanders’ doors by highly skilled providers — a necessary addition to our current options. It can be deployed relatively quickly compared to building a physical urgent care location. And it makes us more resilient as a community in the face of diminished ferry service.

Our healthcare organizations have told us they’re ready to give Vashon a high-quality mobile urgent care experience. Both organizations say they could roll out urgent care service through DispatchHealth or Mobile Integrated Health by the beginning of next year. That’s a great timeline — but to make it happen, the island needs to make some decisions.

So let’s gas up, clean the windshields, check the tires, and put this thing in drive.