Inside
Get in step with Relay for Life; help find the cure page10
Scene
Guest Column
Premier island performance for blues master Roy Rogers
Scales tipped in favor of access to alcohol on San Juan Island ... Where’s the balance? — By Brad Fincher page 7
page 11
Journal
The 75¢ Wednesday, July 4, 2012 Vol. 105 Issue 27
of the San Juan Islands
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www.sanjuanjournal.com
PeaceHealth vows no cutbacks in care
Fate of Planned Parenthood prompts concern By Steve Wehrly Journal reporter
Journal photo / Scott Ramussen
King Fitch, center gets a chuckle as water system supervisor Mike Wilks, right, reads the town’s latest “notice of violation” from the state Department of Health, presented in jest by Steve Deem of DOH, left.
So long ‘Meat & Potatos’ Cheers, tears and a bit of a roast at town CEO’s farewell bash By Scott Rasmussen Journal editor
King Fitch followed a familiar route to town on his last day on the job. But somewhere along the way, he had a thought or two that were altogether unfamiliar. “I started thinking after today that I won’t have to worry about the town’s water supply,” quipped Fitch, noting at the outset of a brief but heartfelt farewell address that the water level of Trout Lake was never far from mind, at least for the past 25 years or so. Few recall the drought years of the early 1990s the way that King
Fitch does. County Auditor Milene Henley is one who does. “I remember how incredibly responsive he was,” said Henley, who butted heads with the town years ago when a waterline construction project turned wellwater at her San Juan Valley home to brown. “We talked to King a lot during those days. He’s a great guy. To stay in that job that long takes an incredible amount of diplomacy.” On June 29, Fitch’s 25-year tenure as administrator of the Town of Friday Harbor came to its official end. A two-hour retirement celebration hosted Friday by the town drew to the Council Chambers a steady stream of local residents, merchants, politicians, well-wishers and public officials, in addition to family, friends and fellow co-workers, and former ones too, as well as
representatives from several state agencies. From the Washington State Association of Cities, Fitch received a plaque noting his years of public service and longevity at his post. From the state Department of Health, which monitors the town’s water quality, he received, a “notice of violation”, in jest, for failure to give adequate notice of retirement of individual whose performance the department deems as “exceeding standards”. Back in 1987, when he was selected for the job by the late Jim Cahail, mayor of the town at the time, Fitch vowed that he would be “accommodating” and be a facilitator. Boundary Water engineer Dan Drahn believes that Fitch made good on those promises. See FAREWELL, Page 4
PeaceHealth officials last week vowed that there would be no scale-back in women’s services when the medical center in Friday Harbor closes its doors and Peace Island Medical Center takes its place as the main provider of publicly funded health care services on San Juan Island. Those promises were made June 20 at a meeting of the San Juan Island Hospital District Commission and follow in the wake of a request from an official with the Catholic Archdiocese in Seattle, sent recently to PeaceHealth’s Bellingham laboratory, asking that the lab cease providing services to Planned Parenthood clinics. With an audience of about 50 islanders on hand, Peace Island Medical Center CEO Jim Barnhart said June 20 that PeaceHealth has no intention of denying services to Planned Parenthood. Barnhart noted that PeaceHealth is an independently operated healthcare provider. “PeaceHealth is not owned, operated or governed by the Catholic Church,” Barnhart said. Peace Island Medical Center, which is slated to open in Friday Harbor at the end of the year, is a unit of PeaceHealth. “PeaceHealth has not discontinued services to Planned Parenthood and will not discontinue services to Planned Parenthood.” A Bellevue-based nonprofit healthcare system, PeaceHealth owns and operates St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, as well as medical centers and rural-care hospitals in Alaska,
2011 Special Award; Second Place: General Excellence from the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
Washington and Oregon. It has been a Northwest healthcare provider for more than a century, and is financing roughly two-thirds of the $30 million construction cost of Peace Island Medical Center, which is slated to open in Friday Harbor, near the airport, at the end of year. As designed, Peace Island Medical Center will be a 10-bed critical access hospital providing expanded primary care and specialty clinic, enhanced diagnostic center, a cancer care suite providing on-island chemotherapy and cancer services and a 24-hour emergency room. As part of a binding agreement approved by the hospital commission, PIMC will replace San Juan Island’s See PEACEHEALTH, Page 4
A Fabulous 4th Look inside for schedule, location and times of today’s many 4th of July festivities and events, at a glance, page 10.
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