From Susan Conniry: “Health Care in Ocean Shores? On Monday, November 22, 2021, please come to Community Voices. 10-11:30am at the Ocean Shores Lions Club. Our guests are State Representative, 24th District, Mike Chapman. Tom Jensen, CEO Harbor Regional Health and Harshiem Ross, Senior VP, Seamar Community Health Center. Our guests will share info and answer our questions. They also want to hear our ideas! Everyone is welcome.”
Covering Ocean Shores and its neighbors
The North Beach News 
I’m an 80-year-old. I’ve had two hip replacements, and am currently being treated for cancer by PROVIDENCE.
Extremely. impressive good service. Do what you can to attract them to OS!
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I totally agree with Mr Schuster. However, Providence was offered a chance to purchase Community Hospital prior to the voters creating a hospital district and declined, based on debt load and low revenue. Seamar promised much expanded service when they built the new facility and have yet to provide it, still only one doctor, no x-rays and no emergency medical. The state has bent over backwards to help Grays Harbor fund expanded medical within the legal guidelines. At the end of the day healthcare is about money, period. So is the prescription drug business. Given that there are such a preponderance of medicare and medicaid recipients in the north beach area, both of which pay considerably less than private insurance or self pay, there is just no economic benefit to the providers unless government subsidy funding amounts and sources change. Community hospital ( now calling itself Harbor Regional Health to try to change image) would have no benefit in competing with itself. Seamar already has a statewide business model in place and won’t change that just for us, they are as busy as they want to be. The only realistic path seems to be to attempt to change the federal subsidy rules, a long term process at best and entirely dependent on who is in power at any given time. Perhaps a more short term solution could be to work with Grays Harbor Transit to acquire dedicated medical transportation or to urge a joint venture with an accredited private ambulance service(we have one) to perform that service. Until such time as the economic demands of the health care/medical community can be changed I doubt that there is much chance for meaningful change beyond the “we hear you’, “were working on it”, “great idea” and” we’ll get back to you” that we have heard for many years. There are many delightful and some not so delightful reasons to choose to live rural, this may be one of the latter for years to come. The first thing we need is to formulate and present a long term plan that addresses the economic requirements of the medical community. As stated before, it is all about money! In this case, if we build it without that it will lay empty, if we fund it they will come.
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Thumbs up.
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