Spotlight

Strong Medicine

Physician and Fire Commissioner Andrea Chymiy Does a Little of Everything

BY GEORGE SOLTES

PHOTO BY DINAH SATTERWHITE

Dr. Andrea Chymiy gives new meaning to the word multitasking. Family physician, businessperson, preparedness booster, public office holder, competitive rower and endurance hiker—just typing out the list is exhausting.

How did you end up in a medical career? I had a childhood full of doctors because I had scoliosis, and it was just really interesting to me. I was the first doctor in our family that I know of.

Why did you decide to start your own medical practice—Pacifica Medicine & Wellness—and how has it developed? I met my partner at Pacifica, Dr. Marie Matty, while we were still in medical school, and we’ve worked together ever since. After residency, we got jobs at the Doctor’s Clinic in Poulsbo and worked there for 13 years. Then, as the Doctor’s Clinic was starting to merge with what was then Harrison, we decided that maybe we didn’t want to work for a big corporation and looked at some other options. It has organically grown. This is our eighth year and it’s been really positively received.

What has it been like to run your own business? I’d never run a business except for having a paper route. It was a huge learning curve. We didn’t know what we were getting into and that was probably for the best.

How is practicing medicine at Pacifica different? My day used to be, I would see up to 25 or 30 patients. Sometimes you don’t feel like a good doctor at the end of that kind of day. At this point, even on a busy day, we usually see 15. We have time to actually address some issues instead of just speeding through everyone’s visit. That’s satisfying.

You and family physician David Cowan started the Medical Reserve Corps, a volunteer group of local medical professionals created to respond to emergencies, in 2019. That turned out to be good timing, didn’t it? We founded it at the end of 2019 and then 2020 came, and suddenly we were in it. The city worked with us to utilize our healthcare providers for testing sites. We started recruiting like mad just by word of mouth because people wanted to help. Then we started doing vaccines. It was overwhelming but got better when we were absorbed into Bainbridge Prepares. We number 250 or 300 medical providers now.

How did you end up as a Bainbridge Island Fire Commissioner? Because of the vaccine clinics, I worked with the deputy fire chief at the time, Jared Moravec, who’s now the chief. They were going to have an opening and wanted to have a medical perspective on the board because most of the calls are medical, so they asked me to run. Also, there are only three female fire commissioners in Kitsap County, so I think having our point of view at the table is important.

How did you like running for office? I’m not a student council president kind of gal. I was hoping nobody would run against me, but somebody did. I had to make signs, put them up and take them down, and all this stuff. All these cute little volunteers from the vaccine clinic were like, “We’re gonna vote for you and we’re gonna tell all our friends.” And I was like, “Oh, yay.” Because nobody likes to lose in public.

What do you do for fun? I row with the Bainbridge Island Rowing club and have been racing for five or six years. I’ve also been doing a lot of long-distance hiking. I climbed Kilimanjaro this January, which was amazing. Next, I’m going to Europe to do the Dolomites. With hiking, you have to focus on where you are. You have to be present. It’s active meditation. And that’s something I’ve had to learn how to do.