PORT TOWNSEND — U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer was told about staffing issues and expansion plans aimed at providing more services to local residents as he toured Jefferson Healthcare hospital this week.
The Gig Harbor Democrat, who represents the 6th Congressional District, which includes the Olympic Peninsula, also toured Port Townsend city and Jefferson County sewer projects, met with the Jefferson Land Trust, toured the Organic Seed Alliance’s research farm and participated in a farmers’ roundtable during his visit to the county on Wednesday.
Hospital administrators plan to upgrade the facility in Port Townsend to both meet the needs of the growing number of oncology patients and retrofit the main building to modern seismic standards.
“(Kilmer) is very supportive of what we do in the county,” Amy Yaley, hospital spokesperson, said Thursday. “The purpose of the tour was helping him to understand what the scope of the project was.”
In July, Jefferson Healthcare commissioners unanimously voted against putting a $35 million bond on November’s general election ballot. Instead, they opted for a limited expansion of 57,780 square feet to 58,000 square feet with an estimated budget of $70 million to $75 million.
Yaley said the hospital has made a $2.5 million funding request to U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Mountlake Terrace, but otherwise officials plan for the hospital to fund the project itself.
The hospital’s main building was built in 1965 and Jefferson Healthcare’s CEO Mike Glenn has said the building needs replacement or retrofitting within 10 years.
At the same time, the hospital plans to expand its cancer treatment services. Officials hope to purchase a linear accelerator, a machine used to deliver radiation treatment to cancer patients.
“This project is critical to moving Jefferson Healthcare into the next phase of our development,” Glenn said in a statement issued Thursday.
“We are committed to meeting the community needs wherever possible and modernizing and expanding our campus is necessary to ensure our community gets the services they need to remain healthy.”
Kilmer is working on legislation for a pilot program to help rural critical access hospitals (CAHs) such as Jefferson Healthcare provide and expand mental health services, his spokesperson Andrew Wright said in an email.
The legislation would create a pilot program to extend cost-based reimbursement or other favorable reimbursement rates for certain mental health services at critical access hospitals, Wright said.
“The pilot will look at whether providing these services at CAHs improves treatment/care of mental health, reduces hospitalizations and ER usage for mental health, and ultimately reduces costs,” he said.
“Changing this reimbursement rate would be important to expanding services in rural areas across the Olympic Peninsula.”
Kilmer’s seat is up for reelection this year, and Kilmer faces Republican challenger Elizabeth Kreiselmaier of Gig Harbor in the Nov. 8 general election.
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Reporter Peter Segall can be reached at psegall@soundpublishing.com.
Jefferson Healthcare Chief Ancillary and Support Services Officer Jacob Davidson speaks with U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, a Democrat representing the Olympic Peninsula, outside the hospital facility in Port Townsend on Wednesday. (Courtesy photo).
