I am disappointed by the decision of PeaceHealth Southwest to leave west Vancouver, closing the Memorial Health Center (“Vancouver Memorial Health Center to close; longtime Vancouver facility ‘in decline,’ ” The Columbian, July 28). I am a former PeaceHealth Southwest employee, having worked at both Memorial and St. Joseph campuses for nearly 34 years. I paid close attention over the years to the evolution of the hospital’s board of directors to consolidate inpatient services to the St. Joseph campus.
It wasn’t a lack of patients that moved this decision, but the economics of the geography of medical care. When Southwest Washington hospitals consolidated all inpatient services at the St. Joseph campus in 1991, there was a pledge to west Vancouver to create an enhanced urgent care facility at the Memorial campus.
The excuse given by PeaceHealth that infrastructure needs and costs were prohibitive to continuing a presence in west Vancouver ring hollow, in view of the considerable commitment toward a new facility in Fisher’s Landing and the big expansion of the emergency department at the medical center.
My impression of this decision by PeaceHealth Southwest is that it intends to cede its historical and moral stake in west Vancouver. Let’s hope the people in west Vancouver will get the medical care they deserve from another source.
