Editor’s note: Last week’s Page 1 Health Care District story (“Health Care District interviews candidates”) inadvertently left out Collin Hennessey, one of the six candidates for the commissioner seat. Due to human error in our editing process, the section on Hennessey — which had already been written — was accidentally deleted prior to publication. His short biography and answers to the board’s questions have been restored in that article online, and appear in this article as well. We sincerely regret the error.

Vashon Health Care district commissioners have unanimously selected clinical psychologist Dr. Rebecca Chavez to fill the seat left by commissioner Alan Aman in January.

The vote came in a brief special meeting Friday, April 4. Commissioners started at 10 a.m., deliberating for about 20 minutes in executive session before returning to announce their decision.

Commissioners Tom Langland, Sarah Day and Wendy Noble each voted for Chavez as their first choice for the seat.

Langland and Day nominated island health educator Celia Cugudda as their second pick, while Noble selected pharmacist Collin Hennessey. The three agreed that either would be a fine choice, then unanimously chose Cugudda as their alternate candidate in case Chavez could not step into the role.

“I have deep appreciation for this community, and am grateful and excited for the opportunity to be able to give back by serving on the board,” Chavez told The Beachcomber in an email. “I’m looking forward to bringing my professional experience as a clinical psychologist to develop, and enhance, avenues that support the health and wellbeing of the Vashon community.”

Chavez’ career includes a wide range of treatment for adults, couples and adolescents, and supervision of psychology students. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California, Davis and her doctor of psychology degree from The Wright Institute in Berkeley, California.

She’s worked as a sole proprietor of a private practice, offered counseling to students at the University of Washington, Tacoma, and offered therapy for individuals and families at assisted living and skilled nursing facilities. Currently, she provides assessments of active duty military members and veterans for determining disability and other conditions.

The Health Care District is tasked with supporting accessible health care for islanders. The district subsidizes the work of mobile urgent care provider DispatchHealth, funds behavioral health positions through the school district, Vashon Youth and Family Services and The DOVE Project, and funds a part-time social worker at the Vashon Senior Center, among other projects.

Commissioner Alan Aman left the five-person board in January, citing frustrations in the district’s progress in achieving its program goals, communicating with Vashon Island Fire & Rescue and adopting good governance practices.

That opened up his seat, for which Chavez was among six choices. Board Chair Tom Langland praised each candidate during the March 19 board meeting, and the Health Care District leaders echoed that attitude in an email to the candidates Friday.

”We had hoped for a couple good candidates, and instead we got wide interest from a group of qualified, civic-minded neighbors,” Superintendent Tim Johnson wrote. “I was instructed to tell you that the board would have been happy to have any of you as the fifth commissioner. … [And] I would have been pleased to work for any of you.”

Three seats on the board will be up for election this year: Those of Chavez, Langland and Noble.

The other candidates included:

• Hennessey, a pharmacist with experience in clinical and administrative roles, who retired from Group Health in 2016 after spending more than 40 years working in healthcare. His public service and leadership experience including serving on a state board of pharmacy, he said.

Integration of services was a personal goal of his for the district, Hennessey said at the March 19 meeting, including DispatchHealth, Vashon Island Fire & Rescue, Sea Mar, Vashon Pharmacy and other independent providers. There may be an opportunity for the district to fund a navigator who could connect islanders to the many disparate health care services available, he said.

• Cugudda, a certified health education specialist, who previously worked at the island’s Neighborcare Health school clinic and now works at the DOVE Project on youth violence prevention. She is also a substitute teacher at the Harbor School, where she developed a health curriculum that she teaches to fourth and fifth graders, she told the commissioners. Her work includes teen pregnancy prevention, peer conflict resolution, and other efforts to uplift young people.

Presently, she said, helping youth means addressing accumulated trauma, such as from living in violent, neglectful or stressful households, from the COVID-19 pandemic, and from the stress of the current presidential administration. Intervening when kids are young can reduce the lasting harms of adverse childhood events, and existing island programs could be expanded to help do exactly that, she told the district. She also mentioned an interest in improving access to dental and optometric care for island Apple Health recipients in a response to a VHCD questionnaire

• Eric Pryne, a former commissioner on the board from 2019 through 2023.

• Bernie O’Malley, an island fundraiser, volunteer and advocate for seniors.

• Terry Raisio, an operations director for a large senior housing company with nearly four decades of experience in that field.

• A seventh candidate, Dr. Kelly Wright, the owner and managing physician of the Vashon Natural Medicine primary care clinic. She withdrew from the election prior to the March 19 meeting, so she was not among the six considered by the board.