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Colville, Washington |
Thursday, March 11, 2010 |
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Orient clinic faces possible shut down |
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Wednesday, 06 February 2008 |
Kettle River Community Health Center
could close due to “lack of patients”
BY SOPHIA ALDOUS
S-E Staff Reporter
Gloria de los Santos isn’t happy. Neither are many people who live in, or near Orient for that matter. The town’s only clinic, Kettle River Community Health Center, is facing possible closure unless it sees a rise in the number of patients.
“We use the clinic; all of my family does,” said de los Santos, whose children attend Orient School. “We’ve been going there for years. The idea that we may not have a clinic anymore and have to drive 45 minutes to Kettle Falls in case of an emergency is disheartening.”
Kettle River Community Health Center (KRCHC) is one of several clinics in the area included under auspices of Northeast Washington Health Programs (NEWHP), a private, non-profit health care organization providing medical, dental, home health, hospice, and assisted living services. The organization serves the Tri-County area of Northeast Washington including Stevens, Ferry, Pend Oreille & northern Spokane Counties, and is based out of Chewelah.
A public meeting was held Jan. 31 at Orient School to discuss KRCHC’s uncertain future. Another meeting will be held Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 4:30 p.m. at the Orient Church.
“If we can’t increase the volume of patients who use that facility in the next 45 days, we would probably close it,” said Tom Hochwalt, NEWHP’s Executive Director. “The number of patients we had coming in since we opened the place in 1978 has decreased dramatically over the last three to four years.”
‘It’s not like we’re just waiting for the 45 day mark’
When Hochwalt was contacted Monday morning, he said the amount of patients that used to visit the clinic during opening hours has gone down from 10 to 14 people a day to three to four peo¬ple.
The decrease in patients has resulted in the clinic steadily lowering its days of operation, going from being open four days a week, to three, then fi¬nally to only being open on Tuesdays and Fridays. The staff for KRCHC includes to office receptionists and two health care providers, one that works the Tuesday shift and the other on Friday.
“Our first issue is the financial performance of the clinic is deteriorating,” Hochwalt explained. “The second issue is retaining the providers. When you’re only seeing three to four people for the day you’re there during an eight hour shift, that’s a lot of time that’s not getting filled.”
According to Hochwalt, 90 percent of NEWHP’s budget is made up of patient revenue. State funding makes up eight percent, followed by subsidies from grants.
In the event that the clinic closes, Hochwalt said that NEWHP would do its best to ease the transition for patients.
“It’s not like we’re just waiting for the 45 day mark to role around and then we’re going to slam the doors shut,” said Hochwalt. “We would assist patients in transferring to other providers.”
The two current health care providers at the KRCHC would be reassigned to other NEWHP clinics. Hochwalt said that NEWHP would try to find work for the office staff, but admitted that the nearest clinics under the program are in Northport and Colville.
The Executive Director also commented that a possible reason for decline in patient attendance could be because of a decline in Orient’s population.
From 2004 to 2005, the Orient School District had an enrollment of 86 students. From 2007 to 2008 the numbers have dropped almost in half with only 46 students.
Either way, Hochwalt as¬sured that no decision has been made yet.
“We’re not going to abandon these patients,” said Hochwalt.
‘I don’t think they care about this community’
There are those, like de los Santos, who feel differently.
“I don’t think they care about this community,” de los Santos. “I think they’re put¬ting profit before people, which is becoming a common thing with health care in our country. It’s sad and frus¬trating.”
Margaret Dickinson, Board Chairman for KRCHC, said that while she understands and agrees with the commu¬nity’s irritation over the issue, it’s not a subject that came out of nowhere.
“For many years we (KRCHC) held our own and it was fine,” said Dickinson, who has been the KRCHC Board Chairperson for 13 years and a board member for 15 years. “The numbers of pa¬tients were satisfactory, then they started to slide down. We tried to get more people to come, but it just seemed like everything we did wasn’t working.”
Dickinson said she has tried for years to encourage com¬munity members to become actively involved in the clinic, whether through becoming a board member, helping out with the two fundraisers the KRCHC Board puts on each year, or just going to KRCHC for their medical needs.
But so far, she said, the board’s efforts of continual advertising through the North Columbia Monthly and word-of-mouth have proven unsuc¬cessful.
“We’re not just a ‘bandage’ clinic,” Dickinson stated. “We don’t have the resources to do things like x-rays and colono¬scopies, but we can provide medical assistance in many other regards. If we can’t do it, we’ll refer you to some¬one who can.”
Though Dickinson ex¬pressed sadness over the clinic’s potential closing, she said she hopes it will prompt more people to support KRCHC.
“It’s an awful thing,” Dickin¬son said of shutting down the clinic. “If we lose it, we’ll never get it back. I just wish people had been this interested a few years ago. At this point it’s just real tenuous.”
Some community members, like Sheila Pottenger, are taking the steps to get others interested in saving KRCHC. Pottenger, who lives two miles North of Orient and is a Gulf War veteran, has been going to KRCHC for three years.
“I have yet to not have them be able to fix me up,” Potten¬ger said of the clinic. “They do Medicare, sliding fees, and if you’re having trouble with a medical expense they find a way to help you.”
Pottenger said she has been encouraging friends and neighbors to visit KRCHC for any health issues they might have, or just to get a physical.
“I’m just trying to get people to use it,” stated Pottenger. “None of us want to see it go. We have veterans here, elderly people and children that really benefit from having this serv¬ice here. No one wants to drive on icy roads to go get a checkup, or get an emergency taken care of.”
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 February 2008 )
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