Several members of the Vashon Health Care District Board of Commissioners have met with Neighborcare Health — the nonprofit that has struggled for years to keep a primary care clinic on the island — and the two sides seemed to agree to stick together, at least for now, while the district gets up and running.

It was also recommended by another commissioner that the district applies for funding from King County shortly after the New Year’s holiday to help it function since it won’t be able to take in money from residents’ property taxes until 2021.

Commissioners Eric Pryne and Don Wolczko informed islanders of those two major developments on Dec. 19 during the board’s regular meeting at the Vashon Presbyterian Church. Their work on external relations and financing is the result of the board voting on Dec. 11 to establish subcommittees of board members to work on various issues to help set up the district.

During the meeting, the committee members — who are also on the five-member board — provided updates on their progress. It was announced that the district had signed up for a domain name, vashonhealthcare.org, for its official website. In addition, one of the committees recommended the district find an interim superintendent — a chief administrative officer — until a permanent one can be appointed.

But the topics that were front and center on Thursday were commissioners’ discussions with Neighborcare and interim district funding.

Neighborcare discussions

Pryne said he, along with fellow commissioner Tom Langland, met with Neighborcare’s “top brass” at the nonprofit’s headquarters on Beacon Hill in Seattle on Dec. 19.

While the meeting was “cordial,” Pryne said “there were not a lot of specifics exchanged.”

“We told them what we’ve been doing … setting up housekeeping and looking for money,” he said. “The good news is they did not give us a drop-dead deadline and (say) ‘give us X-amount of money by whatever date or we’re out of here.’ They said they wanted to be partners with us as long as feasible. They said they had not yet put together a proposal for us. They did share with us some of the details about what services are budgeted for the clinic for 2020.”

Pryne also said that during the meeting, Neighborcare officials did not ask for a subsidy from the district.

“They did not say when they would ask for it, other than to say that such an ask is not imminent,” he said.

Commissioners then proceeded to talk about how much Neighborcare might ask for and if that could be factored into the district’s request to King County for funding, but Langland pointed out the timeline to request such funding is fairly short and the board won’t meet again until after the new year.

“It’s a dance right now,” Langland said.

Regardless of the discussions swirling around between the district and Neighborcare, Pryne said, “we’ve pretty much determined that while we’re getting set up and before we have tax dollars, it’s important to us to keep the clinic operating.”

“For now, that means keeping Neighborcare here,” Pryne said. “Once we get our feet under it later in the year and decide what it is exactly we want, then we can look at what other providers might be interested in us and we might be interested in them.”

Several residents attending the meeting had questions and comments for commissioners about the Neighborcare clinic’s future. One of those residents was Jane Neubauer, a patient at the clinic. She felt there was community anxiety over whether the clinic would remain open or not now that the island has a hospital district.

Langland responded there is “no hard” date for the clinic’s future. He said Neighborcare was “very cooperative” and “willing to stay for the near-term.”

“We will have to address their shortfall,” Langland said. “But I think … my gut feeling is, as long as we can address their shortfall they are not planning to leave in the near-term. Right now, there’s no worry we’re going to be abandoned.”

Michael Erikson, CEO of Neighborcare, issued a statement to The Beachcomber when the newspaper asked about the details of the meeting between the organization and the commissioners.

“We enjoyed meeting a few of the new commissioners and appreciated hearing of their strong commitment to sustainable and high-quality health care for islanders,” he said. “When the commissioners and their processes are more fully established, we look forward to engaging with them more formally to better understand funding for the community’s primary health care needs.”

Public reaction

After the meeting, Neubauer told The Beachcomber she feels good about the idea of the facility staying open.

“I think it’s really important to do because we need health care here,” she said.

Neubauer said she is supportive of Neighborcare, despite the nonprofit’s challenges.

“I think we need a health care system now and I’m really pleased and thankful that they’re willing to stay not knowing where the contract’s going to go,” she said.

However, Neubauer is open to having another provider coming in to provide health care other than Neighborcare.

“We need somebody who really wants to do a rural clinic,” she said.

District financing

As members of the district’s finance committee, Wolczko and Langland have tried to look for sources of funding to keep the Vashon Health Care District running. That includes government and private funding, but there’s no guarantee of money coming in for the district just yet, Wolczko said.

But the commissioners did have a lengthy conversation with Mike Smith, the King County treasurer, about interim funding for the island’s hospital district.

“It’s kind of their mission not only to safe keep the money that is collected on behalf of different districts, but they also have a social justice agenda and it’s their mission to really help the county,” Wolczko said. “It’s looking much, much better than what I thought it was going to look like at eight o’clock this morning.”

An official with the King County Treasurer’s office confirmed to The Beachcomber a meeting between Smith and the Vashon Health Care District commissioners took place.

However, Smith “did not indicate his support or lack of support” to the idea of King County loaning the district money, according to Carol Basile, treasury manager for King County finance and business operations division, who wrote in an email to the newspaper.

“The decision does not rest with Mr. Smith,” Basile wrote.

Instead of expressing support of funding or not, Smith informed commissioners of the funding process, Basile said. The district would have to complete an interfund loan application to be forwarded to the King County Executive Finance Committee for review.

“King County’s Executive Finance Committee is very willing to consider the loan request from the newly formed district,” Basile wrote. “Their approval is dependent upon a number of factors including size and term of the loan requested, use of proceeds, and the likelihood of repayment of the loan to King County.”

Smith told commissioners it’s not uncommon for the county to assist other districts that were created before their property tax revenue was received, according to Basile.

“He also said that supporting an entity that provided healthcare services to seniors and other at-risk individuals would be in alignment with King County’s equity and social justice goals,” she wrote. “These could be additional helpful considerations for the Executive Finance Committee as they weigh the request.

Wolczko believes any suggestion that county funding plays a minor role in keeping the district going is understating it. Such funding will be “our funding component, not a major component,” he said.