Letters to the Editor - June

The Editor and hospital district commissioners:

I have been an RN for over 50 years. I was a Point Roberts hospital district commissioner and one of the commissioners who voted to appoint Stephen Falk to the hospital district in 2018. After reading Stephen’s emails and texts that he submitted as part of a records request by the Small Point Bulletin and All Point Bulletin, I regret my vote.

It is extremely disturbing to learn that two commissioners with whom the public entrusted to act in accordance to state laws and the hospital district policies have broken that trust. A commissioner’s duty is to make decisions for the good of the community, not for self-interests! Those two commissioners have also acted outside the normal contracting process to achieve their goal of replacing SuperTrack.

I’m surprised another physician would intercede upon another medical entity that has been welcomed and has been successfully practicing in this community for five years. Our clinic has three excellent physicians who have more than fulfilled the hospital district contract. 

I find this whole situation unscrupulous, rude, and disrespectful to the whole community and SuperTrack, especially when this interceding physician and his subordinates cannot treat patients under 18 years of age! That is not in the best interest of this community. 

Kandy Harper

Point Roberts

The Editor:

We’ve been full time residents of Point Roberts for almost five years. We just want to say we’re very happy with the services provided by SuperTrack.

Dr. Evans is very attentive, and the staff are professional. We have our blood work done in the clinic which is very convenient for us. There’s no reason to replace them with Dr. Anwar and his team.

Theresa Nelson

Point Roberts

The Editor:

One wonders why so few people in Point Roberts present themselves as candidates for public office. Consider the recent misguided, malicious, and inappropriate attack of Point Roberts hospital district elected commissioner Stephen Falk. The attack is inaccurate, inappropriate, and public bullying. Everyone in Point Roberts should be thankful that he ran and was elected to our hospital district board.

He is doing precisely what he was elected to do which includes being available to the public for discussion of the hospital district’s operations and future. Having received input or suggestions from members of the public, he takes these suggestions to his board members for consideration. The board members then decide on what action, if any, should be taken. All our elected representatives should operate in this fashion.

So if a member of the medical field or of the public approaches any commissioner and asks how to present themselves to the local board, that request is properly taken to the other directors for consideration. I can’t think of any reason why such a request would not be granted.

Further, if any contract for service is expiring in the future, the commissioners will decide what course of action to follow is in the best interests of the Point Roberts community. The previous time they issued a request for proposals (RFP) and received two submissions and decided to issue the contract to the current provider.

This is the most democratic and fair method to use and reduces the possibility of favoritism, cronyism, or bias. It also gives the best value to our community and follows a proven business methodology. Commissioner Falk did everything correctly in discharging his duties and obligations as a commissioner of our hospital district. He is owed an apology and should be thanked for his service.

That’s how I see it.

Brian Calder

Point Roberts

(Ed. Note: Brian Calder was one of six individuals who pledged $10,000 each or more in start-up funds for the Shields Company 2020 bid to operate the Point Roberts Health Clinic.)

The Editor:

I am the widow of former Point Roberts hospital district commissioner and chair, Dr. Dick Williams.

A crucial meeting for our town is happening on Wednesday, June 12. The Point Roberts hospital district commissioners will be deciding whether to extend the SuperTrack clinic’s contract for another year. The residents of Point Roberts finally have medical doctors at the clinic after decades of waiting. This creates a far superior situation for everyone, me included. We can drive to the clinic for appointments and avoid the two-hour round trip to Bellingham. We can also avoid the four border crossings that are a hardship for many people here. 

Recently, I have received information about unethical meetings involving two of our commissioners. This alone is quite disturbing but to hear that these meetings may have involved a plan to replace the RN and three physicians at the clinic with a physician assistant and a doctor who lives and works in Arizona was mind-boggling. Why? What possible reason makes this plan logical in any universe?

If there is a reason for this idea, the people of this town need to hear it, otherwise please sideline this insanity before people lose local access to their doctors. And please consider that if the commissioners decide in favor of removing the medical doctors from the clinic, they may be looking at a substantial boycott, not to mention a lot of local anger.

If you’d like to keep the SuperTrack clinic here, please let your commissioners know. They cannot read your minds. You do not have to dislike your commissioners, but you do have to communicate with them, and please do it now.

Please write to: Barb Wayland (superintendent@prphd.org); Noel Newbolt (commissioner1@prphd.org); Stephen Falk (commissioner2@prphd.org); Sara Oggel (commissioner3@prphd.org)

Silence is not permission! Let’s keep the SuperTrack clinic!

Lucy Williams (20-year resident)

Point Roberts

The Editor:

Thank you for the excellent article “CDC to put tight restrictions on dogs traveling across the border.” I beg you to keep following up on this crazy plan from the CDC.

I am a long-time veterinarian working in Bellingham. We frequently send cases to Canada to receive timely, lifesaving specialty veterinary care. Under these new rules, the dogs can go to Canada but not return! It’s nuts!

I love how if I travel to Canada with my dog and then back to my home in Bellingham I am “importing” the dog to the U.S.A. Do I import my car each time I cross the border?

I have reached out to state veterinary leaders but have received no help predicting the specifics for returning to the U.S. from Canada. The CDC is creating a Dog Import Form. How? Why? Who signs off? When will we have access to this form? (Ed. Note: the CDC website says it will be available July 15, 2024.)

When you contact the CDC seeking information on how to prepare for travel to and from Canada for people who travel with pets, you receive an automatic reply that recommends using the DogBot on their website. When you use it, you will get all sorts of information about bringing in dogs from all over the world from all sorts of rabies-infested countries, but you won’t get information about bringing Bowser home from a weekend trip to Canada, a country considered rabies-free by the CDC.

Denise Petryk, DVM, MBA

Birch Bay

The Editor:

I would like to share with the public my letter to our Point Roberts Public Hospital District (PRPHD), dated May 6, 2024. It was emailed to district superintendent Barbara Wayland with copies to commissioners Stephen Falk, Sara Oggel, and Noel Newbolt.

I urge Point Roberts Clinic clients to attend the upcoming PRPHD meeting on June 12, at 7 p.m., in the community center, to express your views, whatever they are, on the important issue of who should operate the clinic.

Here is what I wrote to the PRPHD on May 6:

Hello Barb et al.,

I am taking up your invitation to folks who could not speak at the last PRPHD meeting to email comments to you. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the April 10 meeting, but I was surprised and concerned by your plan to invite Dr. Anwar to present his expression of interest in taking over the Point Roberts Clinic. This seemed premature and highly questionable in the absence (to my knowledge) of any prior determination by the PRPHD that the contract should and would go out to competitive bid again.

I don’t see any justification for so soon going through that difficult, disruptive, and expensive process again unless the district determines that the contractor’s performance has been seriously deficient or out of compliance with the terms of their contract. I am unaware of any such shortcomings on SuperTrack’s part.

Personally, I have been completely satisfied with SuperTrack and more specifically with Sean Bozorgzad, MD, as my primary care provider; and I would be very unhappy to see that relationship curtailed at the Point Roberts clinic without sufficient cause.

As a matter of contract management, I believe it is your responsibility to ensure quality and continuity of care, stability, and fairness to all parties. The contract to operate our clinic and your oversight should promote these objectives. In my mind, that would mean giving the contractor a longer term (perhaps five years) with automatic renewal in the absence of a notification of deficient performance.

To reiterate, and obviously just speaking for myself: I have been completely satisfied with the care I have received from Dr. Sean and SuperTrack. Personally, I favor continuity and stability in the operation of our clinic, which means renewing SuperTrack’s contract (preferably for a longer term).

Mark Robbins

Point Roberts