Published July 2003

Community health clinic
in works in north Everett

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

Low-income health care in Snohomish County is becoming a greater problem with each passing day. Far too many people have no medical insurance and can’t afford doctor’s bills for their ailments. Many physicians can’t afford to see patients without insurance. Medicare and Medicaid payments don’t cover actual health-care costs.

So thousands of people have turned to Providence Everett Medical Center’s emergency room for treatment, making it the busiest ER in the state. Health-care officials know that’s a very expensive and inefficient option for handling such things as earaches and flu bugs.

But now a grassroots community effort in Everett is preparing to make at least a dent in the huge problem by opening a health-care clinic staffed by nurse practitioners. They will serve Medicare and Medicaid patients as well as uninsured patients and even insured patients who have no primary-care physician.

So far the clinic is unnamed — and unopened — but it continues to accumulate community contributions that will soon enable it to begin offering services in north Everett at the College Plaza Shopping Center owned by Providence.

Last month, the co-promoters of the clinic — Snohomish County Executive Bob Drewel and Dr. Tony Roon, the health-care access medical director at Providence who came up with the idea — accepted a donation of $150,000 from Jack Wilson, president of the North Everett Lions Club.

“The North Everett Lions Club has been looking for a major project to support that will make a major difference in the community,” Wilson said. “After Dr. Roon made a presentation at our club meeting, we realized this was the project. We are a small Lions Club, so we wanted to maximize our impact on the community by supporting a project that would help the most.”

Though it’s a small club, it has a 52-year history of raising money for community needs. Wilson said the benefits of its years of bingo operations have enabled the club to donate $2.3 million back to the community, including the recent check to the health clinic, $65,000 for thermal-imaging cameras to help the Everett Fire Department spot smoke victims in fires, and $5,000 to the Children’s Museum in Snohomish County.

As of mid-June, the clinic has attracted donations of $280,000, including $100,000 from Dwayne and Rosemary Lane of Dwayne Lane Family of Auto Centers. When the fund reaches $490,000 the clinic will be funded enough to staff it, furnish it and open it, Roon said.

Other partners in the effort include Providence, Medalia Medical Group, The Everett Clinic, Western Washington Medical Group and Radia Medical Imaging.

Administrative and medical staff volunteers from those organizations will also assist the clinic in its management and operations.

Tenant improvements in the Providence space will be provided through contributions from such local firms as Botesch, Nash & Hall Architects; Roger’s Electric; Kirtley-Cole builders and Diamond B. Construction. Coast Real Estate Services of Everett, which manages the property for Providence, will waive its fees for management and brokerage services.

Also, the Providence General Foundation has established a special fund to accept contributions for the community access clinic. Donation information is available at 425-258-7500.

After the clinic is ready and start-up costs are covered by the $490,000, the clinic is expected to be self-sufficient. Most of the clinic’s nurse practitioners will be University of Washington faculty members.

The site is a storefront in a shopping center that is four blocks from Providence’s Colby Campus and two blocks from Everett Community College. It’s also on a major bus line and in a neighborhood of moderate- to low-income residents who would be likely patients, hospital officials noted.

It’s estimated that more than 8,500 patients will receive care during the clinic’s first six months of service, increasing to more than 21,000 patients in its fifth year.

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