I am Bruce Williams, and I would appreciate your vote to re-elect me as a Cascade Medical Hospital Commissioner.
I have been on the board of Cascade Medical for 10 years, having been elected in 2013 and re-elected in 2017. I have served as board president and chaired each of the three board committees. I also serve on the board of the Washington State Hospital Association which enables me to provide the perspective of our hospital district on state policy issues and informs me of broader healthcare trends in our state. There are four topics that I would ask you to consider in voting:
- I have been a strong supporter of the Lake Wenatchee Community, including Cascade Medical’s partnership with Lake Wenatchee Fire & Rescue,
- That partnership has been strengthened significantly during my tenure. Today the interagency cooperation between Cascade Medical and LWFR represents the best use of tax dollars to provide reliable and timely service to a rural community and positively affect the lives of those needing emergency care. Aid 93 is stationed in Plain and is operated by Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue. It is a state of the art, modern response and transport vehicle.
- I have strongly supported having at least one hospital commissioner from the Lake Wenatchee area. Eight years ago, I supported Tom Baranouskas to fill the position previously held by Jim Passage. Two years ago. a gentleman from Leavenworth tried to replace Tom, claiming that he could represent Lake Wenatchee as well as Tom. I campaigned very energetically for Tom and we were successful. If another vacancy comes up in this position. I will place a high priority on finding a Lake Wenatchee area resident from the many well-qualified people there.
- Cascade Medical is in very good financial condition, stronger than when I joined 10 years ago.
- Last year Cascade Medical was profitable, a year when Washington hospitals as a group lost $2.7 billion.
- We have steadily increased Cascade Medical’s cash reserves, now about $15 million.
- This reserve was critical when the pandemic began. Some rural hospitals in Washington thought they would have to close. We not only knew we could stay open, but we could also plan for no layoffs or cuts in compensation.
- We can also use those reserves to make important investments. For example, this year we decided on a much-deserved larger increase in staff compensation realizing that it would create a deficit this year. We are funding that deficit with our reserves.
- We have improved access to healthcare in our community and will continue to do so. Some examples are adding mental health services, providing services in Spanish, and launching our mobile clinic. Although delayed by the pandemic, this year we are launching our Patient and Family Engagement Council.
- We have improved the effectiveness of the board. We did this by developing a more thoughtful and rigorous process for filling commissioner vacancies when they occur. Our two newest commissioners, Gustavo Montoya and Jessica Kendall, are the result of that process. They both are already strong contributors, bringing fresh perspectives, a passion for improving health in our community, and integrity.
The pandemic has, of course, been hard on patients, healthcare employees, hospitals, and communities. At Cascade Medical, not all has gone as we would have liked. Employees have been stressed and at times we have been short-staffed. Prior to the pandemic we had chosen a new information technology system. Unfortunately, our vendor was hit hard by staff shortages and failed to support our implementation. This has been hard on employees and patients. On the other hand, I’m proud of how the Cascade Medical team has responded to the challenges of the pandemic. It gives me confidence that we will continue making great progress in community health care.
I would appreciate your vote for Gustavo, Jessica, and me so that we can continue to work together to serve you.
Thank you.