In April of this year, voters approved Proposition 1, a temporary 10-year levy lid lift proposed by the Orcas Island Health Care District board. During our levy town hall meetings, the board committed to three key work areas as the basis for our levy request: long-term stability in clinic operations, clinic expansion and expanding primary care services. Since April, we’ve made significant progress on each of these areas, including signing a 10-plus year contract with Island Health to operate the clinic, finalizing a long-term strategic facilities plan, which will be the basis for architecture and design of a clinic expansion, and convening work groups with community organizations around primary care expansion. We are excited to share updates on those work areas and more, while providing an outlook on how the levy dollars will be utilized in 2026 and beyond.

As healthcare organizations across the country struggle with unprecedented uncertainty in operations and finances, the Orcas Island Health Care District (OIHCD) Board is happy to report an important step in long-term stability for our island community. Island Health and OIHCD have executed a 10-year contract renewal to keep Island Health as the clinic operator at Island Primary Care - Orcas. This contract builds off a strong relationship that has been established over the last five-year contract, which began in 2021. The contract extends for 10 years, with two additional five-year renewal period options, which could support primary care services until as far as 2045.