Neighborcare clinic set to open Monday

Neighborcare Health at Vashon was a hive of activity on Monday morning with workmen on ladders, staff tucked behind computers and medical assistants preparing exam rooms.

Amid an abundance of boxes stacked in the waiting room, Neighborcare’s Jessica Petkovic appeared calm and relaxed.

“It’s only Monday,” she said, smiling. “We keep telling ourselves we have four more days.”

Indeed, the clinic is set to open next Monday morning, and with that — and the successful fundraising effort completed — the community campaign has shifted its message from Save Our Clinic to Use Our Clinic. So far, it seems islanders appear to be doing just that, as nearly 60 appointments were scheduled in the first day alone after the phone lines opened last week.

Considerable effort has recently been focused on making sure people who wish to receive care at the clinic understand that all patients new to Neighborcare Health must request that their records be transferred — whether they were Franciscan patients, patients at Fulton Family Medicine or at any other clinic. Tag Gornall, who has been instrumental in providing information to the community about the clinic transition, noted there has been a lot of confusion about this. The necessary document to request records is available online, at Fulton Family Medicine and at the Information Station.

At Neighborcare, officials have repeatedly stressed they are excited to be opening, with Roger Dowdy, the director of clinical operations, noting Neighborcare has “pulled out all the stops” to make the health care gap as limited as possible on Vashon. Officials have also asked for patience initially as the time frame they are working in is much shorter than typical for opening a new clinic. Last week Dowdy reminded islanders that the clinic will not be operating at full speed initially, as providers learn all of Neighborcare’s systems and medical records are transferred.

“We recognize there is seven weeks of pent up need, and we are having to do a slow ramp up. Those do not necessarily correlate,” he said. “We are asking for patience for the first few weeks.”

He added that some callers seeking appointments had to call multiple times to get through — a situation he said he expects will resolve itself soon.

Meanwhile, Neighborcare’s Chief Medical Officer Marcus Rempel and the new site medical director, Jessica Wesch, MD, say while much will be the same about the clinic, including familiar providers, there will be important differences.

Wesch, who previously worked for Swedish Medical Center, had been hired initially to work with CHI Franciscan on Vashon, but Franciscan officials announced the closure of the clinic before she could begin. In a conversation last week, however, Wesch was quick to call Franciscan’s decision “a tremendous opportunity.”

“I believe as a community, we have come out with a much better solution for our health care needs,” she said. “I hold Neighborcare Health in very high regard. They have a mission to provide health care for all, everyone in the community, with the goal of 100 percent access and zero health care disparity. … This is an incredible thing in this age of health care.”

Additionally, Rempel noted that as Neighborcare Health is a federally qualified health center, at least half of its board must be patients who have been seen its clinics. Regarding day-to-day work at the clinic, he said Neighborcare has service commitments that govern the behavior of staff with each other and with patients. These agreements include greeting everyone with a warm welcome, ensuring caring is at the core of what they do and and building trusting relationships.

“We try to carry these service commitments at the ground level for all the people we work with,” he said.

Neighborcare Health also conducts patient satisfaction surveys on a quarterly basis to learn what is going well and what needs to be improved, he said.

Wesch noted she also wants patients to be in touch with her if problems arise.

“If there are issues, I want to hear about them,” she said. “We want to grow as a clinic and do better. … We are here to do the right thing for our patients.”

To that end, those involved say islanders need to use the clinic for at least some of their health care needs. When CHI Franciscan took over the clinic, there were about 1,000 appointments per month. By the time they announced they were leaving, those numbers had dropped to 750 to 850, according to a Franciscan spokesman Scott Thompson. Now, it is important for islanders who have gone off-island for their care to bring at least some of it back to the island.

“We would love to be part of people’s health care home on the island,” Dowdy said. “The more patients we are able to bring in, the greater sustainability of that into the future.”

Also speaking to this issue, Rempel said that establishing a base at the clinic — having a chart at Neighborcare with a medication list and a medical problems list — will help expedite care if the need arises. Wesch added that as primary care doctors, island physicians can help coordinate and oversee the care of off-island specialists and be “explainers and linkers” in that process.

“Come see us,” she said. “We’ll help you.”

With the opening date of the clinic nearly at hand, community members raising money for the clinic say they are no longer soliciting funds, but that some islanders are continuing to donate.

Rick Wallace, who has headed the fundraising campaign, said last Friday that with money coming in, the bottom line won’t be known for awhile. However, his rough estimate was that with donations and pledges, they had reached $470,000, 20 percent over their initial goal.

There was additional financial good news last week, with the announcement that Gov. Jay Inslee had approved a request for $100,000 for Neighborcare. This governmental support was expected and had been figured into the calculations regarding the clinic and what it would need from the Vashon community. The money will come from the Governor’s Strategic Reserve Fund and was allocated after state Sen. Sharon Nelson asked the governor’s office for assistance, which Inslee acknowledged in a statement.

“Sen. Sharon Nelson came to me with this request, and I’m happy to provide strategic reserve funding that will help re-open Vashon and Maury Islands’ … health clinic,” he said in the statement. “Neighborcare’s move to Vashon-Maury will give islanders affordable health care options and retain up to 20 clinical jobs.”

In the coming weeks, additional funds may also come from the board of Granny’s Attic, which has long supported the work of the health center and, in recent years, a variety of health-related needs on the island. Wallace noted that he submitted a grant request to Granny’s, which will award its funds at the end of this month or the beginning of next. He added he took great care to moderate the request, as other organizations on the island have grown to rely on Granny’s Attic funding.

Tim Johnson, the business manager at Granny’s Attic, confirmed that the organization had received the application and noted it was one of about 10 received in this granting cycle.

If Granny’s would agree and if they approve the grant, Wallace said, those funds could be pooled with other donated funds and help fund the purchase of an X-ray machine. Last week, longtime island physician Gary Koch spoke to the importance of having X-ray capability, calling it “vital” to providing quality primary care on Vashon. Dowdy said Neighborcare is continuing to look at the best options for restoring that capability, but has not made a final decision yet.

“We are committed to getting X-ray back on the island as quickly as possible, but I cannot give a specific date,” he said.

Tending to those details — and a myriad of others — will continue for awhile. But in the meantime, the clinic will open with the goal of providing care to anyone who needs it.

“We are looking forward to seeing the doors open on the 26th,” Dowdy said.

Neighborcare Health at Vashon will be open from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. The clinic phone number is 463-3671.