SEQUIM — As a radiation oncologist, Heath Foxlee spends an inordinate number of hours and an impressive level of energy treating people facing a disease that strikes fear in the hearts of many people.
His work at the Olympic Medical Cancer Center in Sequim puts him face to face with patients virtually fighting for their lives, in an area with an aging population that experiences malignancies more frequently than its younger counterpart.
Foxlee is also a family man who likes to spend any free time he has being a husband and dad.
So what’s he doing as a pitch man for a school district levy campaign?
“I’m a physician, so it’s been awkward to participate,” Foxlee said. “But it’s actually been fun.”
Foxlee and Alan Kowitz, another Sequim doctor, are spearheading an activist group called “Physicians for Sequim Schools,” taking out advertising space in newspapers and spreading their message that strong schools are healthy for communities.
Schools in Sequim may be far less strong next year if the district fails in its second 2004 attempt at a replacement maintenance and operations levy, set for a special election ending May 18.
Program cuts totaling $1.5 million have targeted staff, extracurricular activities, facilities maintenance and even textbooks.
