INSIDE

Hospital district plods along

“We are doing a lot of reading, making a lot of telephone calls, meeting with a lot of people with knowledge in this field, meeting as a group to share information and making decisions to come up with a good and viable plan to present to the people of Point Roberts,” says hospital district chairman Margery Biery.

The district has been meeting twice a month since the beginning of the year, hacking their way through the bureaucratic mountain they need to scale before they can take over the operation of the existing Point Roberts Aydon Wellness Clinic. They have been concentrating on gathering information from a number of sources to help them determine how other districts do their job, and how that information can help run the clinic and the hospital district, Biery said.

As the only hospital district in Whatcom County, Biery said they were breaking some new ground and “other communities in the county, rural in nature, are watching our progress as we put this together. The challenge and goal has become to keep the clinic open and operating and at the same time come up with a transition plan for the future.”

The grant that had been funding the clinic expired April 30, Biery said, and she was not aware what funds were being used to keep clinic doors open. During this transition period direct oversight of the clinic continues to fall to the Wellness Clinic board, made up of representatives from the Pioneer group, the fire department and the Interfaith Wellness Clinic that runs clinic operations.

Virginia Lester, who oversees the daily operation of the clinic, said they had applied to the federal grant administrators for an extension, releasing the grant funds they have not yet used, and that they expect an answer by the end of May. “There is money in the special clinic account that can be used in the interim,” she said.

In their past meetings Biery said commissioners have adopted bylaws and a seal for official documents, adopted the Whatcom County treasurer as treasurer for the district, and mapped a plan of action for the next six months. Up next will be a determination of what the clinic and district will need for stable continued operation, and how much that will cost. “A budget will be prepared in order to ascertain the most cost effective amount of the levy,” Biery said.

The next meetings for the hospital district are Monday, June 13 and Monday, June 27 at 5:30 p.m. at the community center on Gulf Road.