By KATE HUNTER
For The Beachcomber

As the news of the “affiliation” between Highline Medical Center (which operated the Vashon Health Center) and the Franciscan Health System hit Vashon, islanders organized two community meetings, one outcome of which was the formation of a clinic advisory committee. This effort, led by May Gerstle, proceeded with the encouragement of and in close consultation with Mark Benedum, CEO of Highline.

However, recently patients of the clinic were invited by the Franciscans to a community meeting to learn about and to apply for membership in a Patient Family Advisory Council (PFAC).

So why are the Franciscans forming another advisory council? When Gerstle contacted Benedum about the announcement, he replied in an e-mail: “Given that Highline’s affiliation with Franciscan was only recently finalized, the PFAC model is new to me and I made statements to you that have turned out to be incorrect. You and the volunteers you recruited are welcome to apply to be members of the PFAC, but I cannot guarantee that they will be selected to serve on it.”

Four representatives from the Franciscan Health System attended the meeting. I was one of about 20 Vashon folks who attended and learned what the function of this council will and won’t be.

Lisa Harrison, who conducted the meeting, explained how the councils operate (they already have others in place in other districts). She sends out an agenda telling members the topic of the evening. They might then talk to other patients about the topic to get their input to bring to the meeting. They have no say in what the topic will be, but will be the “patient-centered voice” to management and the board.

Typical issues discussed, she told us, are adequate parking, telephone answering or timely services. Substantive questions related to the Ethical and Religious Directives of the Catholic Church or other hospital medical policies are not open for discussion. Tim Marsh, the Vice President for Public Relations, said, “We can’t be everything for everybody. If a service is requested that we don’t provide, the patient will be referred elsewhere.”

Two other topics not open for discussion are the hiring of new doctors for the clinic or the operational relationship between the Franciscan and Highline systems.

One question that none of us attending the meeting thought to ask is why do the Franciscan managers feel the need to set up their own council when under Gerstle’s leadership we already have a functioning advisory committee. Thinking about it later, I called the customer relations office (called the “Franciscan Experience” office) to ask. Harrison’s answer was: This is how we do it.

I can only surmise that underlying this answer is the true reason: Franciscans want to control the agenda, including topics to be discussed, and don’t want a committee of islanders they have not selected who might continue asking challenging questions. We also know they must approve who sits on the Highline hospital board and who is hired. This no longer sounds like an “affiliation”; the Franciscans are clearly running the show.

— Kate Hunter is a longtime islander and civic activist.