A previous version of this article entirely left out one of the candidates for the commissioner seat: Colin Hennessey. Due to human error in the editing process, the section on Collin Hennessey — which had already been written — was accidentally deleted prior to publication. His biography and answers to the board’s questions have been added restored to this article online, and will be printed in the April 10 edition of The Beachcomber as well.

Vashon Health Care District commissioners interviewed six candidates to fill an open seat on the board during the district’s March 19 commissioners meeting.

“Any one of you would adequately, at least, serve as that fifth person,” said board chair Tom Langland, calling the roster of candidates a “can’t-lose situation.”

The six bring a range of financial, clinical, communications and legal knowledge.

Collin Hennessey, a pharmacist with experience in clinical and administrative roles, 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 is a personal goal of his for the district, Hennessey said, 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.

Rebecca Chavez, a clinical psychologist with more than 20 years of experience, said she’s an outside-the box thinker and an empty nester who has the passion and time to devote to helping the Health Care District. “I’m really proud of all the work you guys are doing,” Chavez said.

Her strengths, she said, include navigating healthcare and insurance law while meeting the demands of her practice: “How do I comply with those regulations and have independence, and still have choice over who I see, and how I see, and how I practice.”

Eric Pryne served on the district board from 2019 through 2023. He’s only running to fill the seat and does not want to run for election to keep it. The commission may want to pick someone who will bring “fresh blood, fresh perspectives” and a willingness to commit longer than himself, Pryne said. (Pryne, a former Seattle Times journalist, also freelances news articles for The Beachcomber.)

Nevertheless, he’ll serve if called. “This is an exciting time for for the Health Care District,” Pryne said. “A lot of the policy and program initiatives that we began formulating when I was on the board, a couple years ago, have come to fruition.”

Celia Cugudda, who holds a community health education degree, previously worked at the island’s Neighborcare school clinic, and now works at the DOVE Project on violence prevention with youth and as a substitute teacher at the Harbor School. Her work and interest includes teen pregnancy prevention, peer conflict resolution, and other efforts to uplift young people.

Today, 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. “I think we’re going to be doing a lot of rebuilding in the next five years of stuff we’ll be losing in the next four,” Cugudda said.

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 said. She cited peace and conflict resolution education in schools as one example.

Bernie O’Malley is a well-known islander with experience fundraising for the Vashon Senior Center and volunteering to take seniors to off-island medical appointments. He has also worked in city finance departments and currently writes for The Loop, an island publication.

O’Malley said he’s interested in outreach and care for seniors, including medical transportation and nutritional needs, and in developing closer relationships with other service providers.

He cast the island’s healthcare situation optimistically: “This is the best place we’ve been in years, in terms of the opportunity over the next five years to grow and become healthier as individuals and also as a community,” O’Malley said.

In terms of healthcare, the next five years could be “fantastic” for the island community, he said. His question: Does the Health Care District have the staff to capitalize on that opportunity?

Langland said the work doesn’t seem overwhelming, thanks to Johnson and two part-time employees: Communications Coordinator Sarah Howard and Administrative Assistant Patrick Hurley. And with their urgent care work finally in motion, “we’re in better shape than we’ve been in a long time,” Langland said.

Terry Raisio is an operations director for a large for-profit senior housing company, which offers independent, assisted and memory care housing for its clients. He’s worked in that field for almost 40 years, and it’s a source of insight for him into running a financially viable healthcare operation.

He noted the district’s still-unused plot of land front Vashon Highway, just south of Kathy’s Corner. “It is really valuable”

Raisio encouraged the district to consider developing a health and wellness model, such as by partnering with local gyms, to help people reduce the amount of chronic disease management they need in the first place. “Wellness in my mind is the key to the cost of healthcare on the early side,” he said.

Though housing is not currently among VHCD’s priorities, it is key to conversations around healthcare. So Langland asked: Is there a financial pathway for Vashon to create a community-owned senior housing facility?

“Yes,” Raiso responded. “I personally wanted to develop a senior housing community on this island … at [Sunrise Ridge] … and have an affordable aspect to it.”

The idea didn’t pan out then, but it remains an idea “well worth exploring,” he said.

The district is set to discuss the candidates in a special meeting, likely taking place this week, Johnson said. They must have a commissioner nominated by April 15, or else the King County Council will be tasked with appointing one.

The appointed commissioner will serve until the next election results are certified, Johnson said.

Also on March 19…

• Johnson reported a productive and cordial meeting with VIFR Interim Fire Chief Ben Davidson and Mobile Integrated Health Program Director Lilie Corroon. Contentious and strained tensions defined VHCD and VIFR’s relationship last summer, when former VIFR Fire Chief Matt Vinci and some VIFR commissioners criticized the rollout of VHCD’s urgent care plans.

In his report on the recent meeting, Johnson wrote that he was impressed by Davidson and Corroon’s work and was “thankful to them for an opportunity to restart the relationship.”

“We have had a long simmering issue — I don’t know how to describe it, so I won’t try. I will just say there is a new chief in town,” Johnson said during the meeting. “We have agreed to start communicating again … and I’m hopeful that we can work [together] going forward.”

“We had a great meeting, and did discuss working together, putting the past behind us and kind of rebuilding from where we’re at now,” Davidson said in a phone interview. “We’re not interested in rehashing anything, just having a positive relationship moving forward and seeing what makes sense and [where we can] work together where appropriate.”

• Johnson shared that the district has signed an interlocal agreement with the Vashon Park District to share its small works roster, at a cost of $50 per use.

• The board briefly discussed a proposed island-wide health care summit this summer and formation of a health care task force to collaboratively solve health care issues on Vashon.

• Johnson shared the latest DispatchHealth numbers. The mobile urgent care provider saw 93 visits in February, a drop from 129 in January and 142 in December.

• Johnson proposed creating an electronic records management system for the district, which he said would improve the district’s ability to respond to records requests and could allow the district to record and save public meetings. The district aims to select a vendor and deploy the system later this year, with board sign-off at various stages of the process.

The total upfront estimated cost for the project is $35,000, according to the a document prepared by Johnson, cautioning that the number is “very preliminary.” Johnson added that such systems “tend to cost between $5,000 and $10,000” annually for a district of VHCD’s size, “but that’s a lot less than the staff time and the fines if you don’t properly take care of your records.”

Meeting minutes and other information are accessible at vashonhealthcare.org.