Publication

Dear Community,

As I am closing out seven wonderful years in East Lewis County, I reflect on our accomplishments and the goals for which we continue to strive. By we, I mean everyone. Providing health care services is a team effort. We cannot do this without the housekeeping team keeping a sterile, clean environment. Or our maintenance team, who keep the lights on and everything in working order. Or materials, or medical assistants, or nurses, or doctors, and the list goes on. It takes a village to ensure that you can receive care in our hospital and clinics.

Seven years ago, we had two primary care clinics with four providers. We knew access to care was a top priority, and we set out to recruit additional providers. Today, we have nine primary care providers in three clinics. And that is not counting our Specialty Clinic and Rapid Care Clinic.

In 2016, we had limited specialty services. We had a full-time general surgeon and a urologist and a gynecologist who came once a month to see patients. Today, we still have our general surgeon and gynecologist but have added podiatry and orthopedics. We continue to work to bring specialty services to East Lewis County because we understand how difficult it is to get that much-needed care when it is so far away.

• We have also worked to expand our services:
• Expanded physical therapy and occupational therapy.
• Added speech therapy.
• Enhanced wound care with the use of biologicals for hard-to-heal wounds.
• Expanded Transitional Care Rehab (aka swing bed) to bring residents home when recovering from a surgery or medical event.
• Added walk-in clinic services Friday through Monday through our Rapid Care Clinic.

Of course, we had a little thing called a pandemic during this period too. We have not restored our pulmonary rehabilitation program or dining in our cafeteria yet, but we are trying to get there. In addition, we are pleased to add our fourth primary care clinic in January 2023, the Arbor Health–Packwood Clinic. In these transitional times, we are positioning ourselves to seize opportunities to ensure that you have access to quality health care, because we were created by you, for you.

Leianne Everett, CEO

Categories: From Our CEO