Island Hospital Board President Buzz Ely has written a letter for mailing on Friday to residents of the Island Hospital district to encourage residents to attend the public, combined-board meeting to "learn more about the process of choosing a partner."
"We are carefully evaluating all aspects of forming a partnership with a larger health system. This includes issues related to a partnership with a faith-based health system." Ey says a final decision is expected by the end of this summer. "Once this is made, our hospital will negotiate the details of the partnership in the best interests of our community."
Island Hospital, along with Skagit Valley Hospital and Cascade Valley Hospital formed a joint partnership about 18 months ago to improve their healthcare and services. Since then, the three hospitals decided to seek a partnership with a larger leant care system and four hospitals responded.
Providence Health & Services/Swedish Medical Center University of Washington (UW) Medicine PeaceHealth (St. Joseph Medical Center) Virginia Mason Medical Center
Since then, Ely notes in his letter, UW Medicine announced a partnership with PeaceHealth and, as a result, they are being considered jointly. He said, "The hospital leadership at Skagit Valley Hospital, Cascade Valley Hospital, and Island Hospital have reviewed and discussed the responses and visited hospitals with similar partnerships."
The Community forum is set for Wednesday, July 31, at 5pm, in McIntyre Hall on the Skagit Valley College Campus.