A Letter to the Community from Lopez Island Hospital District 

The Lopez Island Hospital District (LIHD) met January 24 in a special public meeting to discuss a proposal regarding pediatric health care presented by Lopez Community for Health Care (LCHC) and Dr. Evan Buxbaum (Island Primary Care – Orcas).  We appreciate the work of LCHC and Dr. Buxbaum for the research and planning they did to create a proposal for pediatric care on Lopez one or two days per month.  We share their concern for the health of Lopez children and acknowledge their efforts and express our appreciation. 

The LIHD didn’t make any decisions about the proposal at that special meeting nor at the regular board meeting that followed it.   We have created a subcommittee of commissioners, David Hall & Albert Berger, to continue our review of the proposal, seek answers to our questions, and identify next steps; they have already begun that work.   We do understand there is desire to have pediatric services on Lopez and look forward to pursuing this through required negotiations with involved parties as appropriate.   Thank you to everyone who is putting effort into this work.