On October 21 and 22, UW Medicine celebrated the opening of its new primary care clinics on Orcas and Lopez Islands in the San Juans. Both clinics offer comprehensive primary care for pediatric and adult patients, and provide on-site services including imaging and lab testing.
UW Medicine has partnered with local organizations to bring the clinics to the islands. On Orcas, we are partnering with the Orcas Medical Foundation (OMF) to operate the clinic. OMF is a 501©(3) non-profit organization that owns the building in which the clinic is housed and raises funds to subsidize the clinic and assistance with medical expenses for individuals. The OMF was formed to ensure that high-quality medical care and information is available to all members of the Orcas Island community.
On Lopez, UW Medicine is partnering with the Catherine Washburn Medical Association (CWMA) to operate the clinic. The CWMA was formed in 1971 in memory of Catherine Washburn, a Lopez resident. The CWMA began by raising funds for the original 1974 clinic building and has continued to provide financial support for operations, expansions, and equipment upgrades. CWMA will continue to provide support of facilities and equipment management and the Lopez Public Hospital District has now assumed the role of financial support through property taxes collected by the public hospital district.
Dr. Michael D. Alperin will act as chief of both the UW Medicine Orcas Island and Lopez Island Clinics effective Nov 1, 2017. Alperin is currently chief and clinical director of primary care at the Veterans Administration healthcare system in Portland, Oregon, and will be relocating with his family to serve in his new position. He joins Dr. Bob A. Wilson, the current physician at Lopez Island Clinic, and Dr. David Russell and Kirsten E. Pickard, ARNP at the Orcas Island Clinic.
Airlift Northwest also will support the clinics should island residents need emergency or critical care, transporting ill or injured patients off the islands to the most appropriate care on the mainland.
