Hospital board prepares to take over from fire

By Meg Olson

Hospital district commissioners and superintendent Margery Biery are ready to take over the local health clinic.

It’s been a year since the hospital district commissioners, elected in February 2005 when voters approved the formation of the taxing district, started working on how to use tax dollars to keep the clinic doors open.

The Aydon Wellness Clinic was founded through a federal grant that has been administered through the fire district. “The grant is over on April 30 and the fire department will no longer have anything to do with it,” said Biery, who was elected as a commissioner but resigned to take over the superintendent’s position. “We’re in the process of transitioning the assets.”

The remaining commissioners Victor Riley and Barbara Bradstock have appointed Dick Williams to take Biery’s position on the board.
The hospital district’s annual budget of $178,060 comes from a 67 cent per thousand dollars of assessed valuation tax levy. Just over $100,000 of the funds will be paid to Bellingham-based Interfaith Community Health Center who will continue to operate the clinic. Interfaith will also keep the fees paid by patients. “Based on what we have learned for clinics in this kind of setting you can count on 48 percent being paid by the fees,” Biery said.

There is a possibility that remaining grant funds can be transferred to the hospital district but there has not been a clear response from federal grant administrators. “When we did the budget we did not figure any of the grant funds because we had no idea what would happen and we still don’t,” Biery said.

Under hospital district control, patients will see few changes in how the clinic is run except for longer hours and the potential to be open one evening a week. Biery said once the transition is complete commissioners will begin to scrutinize operations to improve service and trim costs. “We can analyze the service and look at the providers. Are there others?” she said. “Right now though our goal is to make this transition and make it work.”