PORT ANGELES — More than $1 million donated by the Olympic Medical Center Foundation will go to OMC programs that aim to increase health care providers and support the patients of the pediatric clinic and cancer center.
The Olympic Medical Center Foundation is donating $1,002,217 to the hospital, OMC Foundation President Dr. Mark Fischer and Executive Director Bruce Skinner announced at an OMC commissioners meeting Wednesday.
The nonprofit foundation’s work in raising funds and donations to support the hospital is an industry “gold standard,” Commissioner Thom Hightower said.
The donation includes $150,000 for the OMC Residency Program, a pledge of $500,000 for the 2025-26 edition of the Healthcare Scholarship Fund, $23,740 for video monitors at the OMC Cancer Center in Sequim, and $68,477 for equipment and books for young patients at the OMC Pediatrics Clinic.
In addition, the pediatrics clinic will receive a grant of $260,000 from the Roots and Wings Foundation.
The residency program, which is in partnership with the North Olympic Healthcare Network and the Swedish Cherry Hill Family Medicine Residency, provides for a rural training program for family medicine residents.
”The OMC Foundation will step up this year to support the program,” Fischer told commissioners.
Six of 14 program participants have remained on the North Olympic Peninsula, while others now work in Montana, Alaska and elsewhere, and some serve on university faculties.
The program “allows for the training of a new generation of family medicine physicians, many of whom will practice at OMC and in the community,” OMC CEO Darryl Wolfe said, adding that the foundation’s donation “is vital for enabling us to continue with this program.”
The scholarship program, seeded by George Brown of Sequim in 2023, provides financial support for Peninsula residents to start or continue medical training, usually at Peninsula College. In exchange for the funds for tuition, books, fees and living expenses, students agree to work for at least two years at OMC if offered a position.
Since its inception in 2023, the program has given 34 people 56 scholarships; some receive scholarships for two years of study.
“A good three-fourths have said they would not have been able to go to school without it,” Skinner said.
The application deadline for the fall is Aug. 1.
Video monitors at the cancer center allow patients undergoing lengthy transfusions to view educational information on cancer treatment and entertainment.
“This is another way in which we provide quality patient care at the cancer center,” said Samantha Reynolds, operations manager for the center.
The foundation’s donation to the pediatric clinic provides books and equipment such as a breast pump and upgrades for panda monitors, which provide a portable, radiant heat source for infants.
The support of the foundation “enables us to continue to provide first-class care,” said Aleisha Autrey, manager of the pediatrics clinic.
“The books are often the first ones that our young patients receive,” she added.
The children’s clinic also will benefit from a $260,000 grant the OMC Foundation recently received from the Roots and Wing Foundation. The grant from the Seattle foundation, which has provided grant money in the past, is the first of three years of grants that will total $800,000.
In addition to soliciting grants and donations, the OMC Foundation puts on several fundraisers each year. They include the Red, Set, Go! Heart Healthy Luncheon, St. Patrick’s Day Run/Walk, Great Olympic Peninsula Duck Derby, Hog Wild and, coming up on July 24-25, the Sonny Sixkiller Celebrity Gold Classic, followed by Harvest of Hope on Sept. 27 and Festival of Trees, Nov. 25-30.
For more information about the foundation, visit omhf.org, call 360-417-7144 or go to 1015 Georgiana St. in Port Angeles.
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Leah Leach is a former executive editor for Peninsula Daily News.
