Letter: Island Hospital District Thanks Community For Hospice Support

By San Juan Coun­ty Pub­lic Hos­pi­tal Dis­trict No. 1

Thank you to all the advo­cates rais­ing their voices.

At the Skag­it Val­ley Hos­pi­tal Dis­trict board meet­ing on Dec. 18, the hos­pi­tal dis­tricts that joint­ly own Hos­pice of the North­west announced that they would not sell to Bris­tol Hospice.

San Juan Coun­ty Pub­lic Hos­pi­tal Dis­trict No. 1 wish­es to thank the Boards of Com­mis­sion­ers of Pub­lic Hos­pi­tal Dis­trict No. 1, Skag­it Region­al Health, and Pub­lic Hos­pi­tal Dis­trict No. 304, Unit­ed Gen­er­al Dis­trict 304, for dis­con­tin­u­ing fur­ther con­sid­er­a­tion of a poten­tial pur­chase agree­ment for Hos­pice of the Northwest. 

We would also like to thank every­one that helped in con­tact­ing the Boards of Com­mis­sion­ers and express­ing their over­whelm­ing sup­port to keep Hos­pice of the North­west under present own­er­ship and direction.

Hos­pice of the North­west is a valu­able part­ner agency for seniors and their fam­i­lies when a health cri­sis hits.  The orga­ni­za­tion is award-win­ning for putting patients ahead of fund­ing in their care. 

Com­mis­sion­er Trish Lehman of San Juan Coun­ty Pub­lic Hos­pi­tal Dis­trict No. had this to say after the board’s deci­sion on Novem­ber 18, 2020: “To wit­ness the unan­i­mous vote at this morning’s Skag­it Region­al Health Board of com­mis­sion­ers meet­ing was one of the best moments I’ve had in a long time! Nev­er under­es­ti­mate the pow­er of the peo­ple to make a dif­fer­ence! Our hos­pice patients and their fam­i­lies are the big win­ners in this outcome.”

This was a vic­to­ry for the cit­i­zens of San Juan Coun­ty and the Skag­it Val­ley, and we are very pleased with this out­come. We would like to thank those who joined us in oppos­ing this sale.

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