Strawberry Festival is not just a time to sing and dance and play — Islanders also got to meet their civic leaders, ask questions of local organizations and meet major players, new and old, including various healthcare organizations, each with plans — or at least ideas — for care on Vashon.
Local group joins Seattle Indian Health Board
Islanders got to speak with representatives of the Seattle Indian Health Board, the health care organization which was joined this year by members of Friends of Thunderbird — a grassroots island organization formed to support the Health Board’s new residential treatment center on Vashon, now set to open in 2025.
The advisory board of Friends of Thunderbird is made up of prominent islanders including Joseph Bogaard, Leslie Brown, Patrick Christie, dune aka Cathy deSmet, Debra Gussin, Liz Illg, Shelley Means, Billy Plauche, Janie Starr, Yve Susskind, and Kathryn True.
Its website, friendsofthunderbird.org, also has a signature list filled with names of other islanders who support the treatment center as well as a detailed Q-and-A section describing the Health Board’s history and goals.
The center will serve patients, including pregnant and parenting people, recovering from substance abuse with comprehensive care, using traditional Indigenous medicine.
The treatment center will be open to all, as are all other Health Board programs. While it specializes in the care of American Indians and Alaska Natives, the Health Board — as an Urban Indian Organization, Federally Qualified Health Center, and Community Health Center — serves all who seek its services.
Health Board leaders at the Strawberry Festival booth included Andrew Guillen (Cahuilla/Luiseño), its chief public affairs officer, and Jason Owens, its chief operating officer, who both said that they had heard strong support from many islanders who stopped by the booth. They said they had also engaged in dialogue with islanders who had stopped by to ask detailed questions about the new facility and the process of opening it on Vashon.
“We’re invested in being a part of the community,” said Owens, relating his conversations with islanders. “It’s easy to stand on the truth — we’re doing things in exact accordance with what we are supposed to do.”
The booth shared designs and treatments offered at Thunderbird, signage that the Health Board was seeking to hire islanders, and more. Plans and programs are also detailed on a new Health Board website: thunderbird.center.
Friends of Thunderbird members said that many islanders expressed support for the Health Board by filling out a large stack of postcards, addressed to King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda.
The Beachcomber will report more on Thunderbird in the coming weeks.
Fire department, Healthcare District make urgent care pitches
Organizations seeking to provide urgent care on Vashon spoke with islanders during the festival, too.
The Vashon Healthcare District is considering working with DispatchHealth, a partner of MultiCare, to provide on-wheels urgent care to islanders. DispatchHealth’s Regional Director of Operations Corey Kunz was on the island to answer questions.
Vashon would be the first island DispatchHealth would serve, Kunz said — “but serving populations that are unique is not unique to us,” he said.
“Everybody’s just been excited about the offering,” Kunz said of their conversations with people at Strawberry Festival. “There’s an ‘aha’ moment when we talk about what we do.”
Meanwhile, Vashon Island Fire & Rescue’s booth, Matt Vinci, and other VIFR staffers and supporters talked to islanders about a different approach to urgent care on Vashon: a further expansion of the district’s new Mobile Integrated Health program, which launched in Feburary and has further expanded in recent weeks.
Islanders learned more about those plans, and why Vinci and others believe Mobile Integrated Health could more effectively support Vashon’s urgent care needs than DispatchHealth.
“We were excited to have hundreds of attendees stop by our booth to learn hands-only CPR, sign up for free smoke detector installations, and check out our new ambulances,” VIFR said in a Facebook post. “Our Mobile Integrated Health Services Program was a big topic of discussion, including our upcoming proposal to offer effective, low-cost urgent care, keeping Vashon taxes and jobs on our island.”
The agency’s fire crews handled more than 30 emergency responses over the festival weekend while navigating the challenges of the ferry system, according to VIFR.
A DispatchHealth vehicle was on display during Strawberry Festival weekend. (Alex Bruell photo)
Fire Chief Matt Vinci, in the staging area for the Strawberry Festival parade, beside the fire district’s Mobile Integrated Health vehicle. (Elizabeth Shepherd photo)
