HomeHealthcare

Healthcare Issue Team

Mission:

To inform the community on health-related issues and advocate for healthcare policies that lead to improved outcomes for all.

Leader: Mary Lynne Courtney

Healthcare Challenges in Eastern Whatcom County

Speaker: Aly Robinson
Community Health Specialist
Whatcom County Health & Community Services

Healthcare Issue Team
May 20, 2024

Advance care Planning: Your Wishes

Presenter:
Julie Donovan
PeaceHealth Advance Care Planning Program Facilitator

Healthcare Issue Team
April 15, 2024

Accordion Widget

Resource materials

Washington Advance Directive

Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment

Hierarchy of Decision Makers - WA

CPR Guide 2022

PeaceHealth

Northwest Network Update
with
Chuck Prosper, Chief Executive Officer
Healthcare Issue Team
March 18, 2024

Palliative Care in Whatcom County

An Update from PeaceHealth on the Reinstated Program

Speakers:

Amber Asbjornsen, Chief Philanthropy Officer
Leslie Clements, System Director for Palliative Care
Donna Inglis, VP St. Joseph’s Medical Center Foundation Board

Healthcare Issue Team
February 19, 2024

The Effects of the Ethical and Religious Directives (ERDs) on Healthcare in WA

Dennis Barnes, Susan Young, and Carollynn Zimmers from Save Secular Healthcare WA discuss the ethical and religious directives that underly the provision of healthcare services by Catholic organizations. In some instances, these directives restrict the type of healthcare services that are provided at Catholic institutions.

Click here for a summary of the questions and answers that followed the program.
Dec. 18, 2023

Does this Plastic Make me Look Fat?

Plastics and Your Health

Presented by: Vicki Thomas

Oct. 16, 2023

Comprehensive Sexual Health Education
in Bellingham Schools

Kim Neiderhauser, Director of Health Services

For information about Bellingham Schools health education, click here.
Healthcare Team
May 15, 2023

For your health, for your wellbeing
Get Outside!

Elizabeth Nelson, Program Director,
Recreation Northwest

Healthcare Team
April 17, 2023

Update on Washington State's Universal Health Care Commission

Maureen Brinck-Lund is a member of Seattle-King County LWV and an observer of the Universal Health Care Commission (UHCC) for Health Care is a Human Right. On September 18th she provided the Healthcare Issue Team with a history of the formation of the UHCC, its members, and its progress towards devising a universal healthcare system for Washington State. Click here to view her slideshow.

PeaceHealth's DCE
(Direct Contracting Entity) Program

Dr. Scott Foster, PeaceHealth's Chief Medical Executive for the DCE program, met with the LWV Bellingham/Whatcom's Healthcare Team to explain their DCE program, which they implemented under the name Cascadia Community Care Alliance, LLC (CCCA).

PeaceHealth has notified patients enrolled in traditional Medicare, some via their patient portal, that they have been auto-aligned into CCCA's DCE. There is no requirement in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid guidelines for the DCE program that patients be notified in advance that they were transitioned from traditional Medicare to the DCE plan.

NOTE: The League has no official position regarding DCEs.

Kidney Awareness

Dr. Bill Lombard, retired nephrologist, chairs the Whatcom County-based Kidney Health Awareness Initiative, which focuses on the need for education on the causes of chronic kidney disease, which is considered a "silent epidemic." Diabetes and hypertension are the top causes of CKD. Diabetes prevention is key to reducing the number of people who develop CKD. Click here to view his talk.

Healthy Minds, Healthy Lives:
School-Based Behavioral Health Services

Chris Cochran, Mental Health Coordinator at Bellingham Public Schools, and Alicia Rule, 42nd district State Representative, discussed these questions, focusing on current behavioral health services in the schools as well as legislation, both recent and pending. Watch this recording to hear what they have to report.