Olmsted, Bried to join Russell at clinic

Local pediatrician Jeanne Olmsted will maintain her practice at the Orcas Island Medical Center after Jan. 9, and Physician’s Assistant Michael Bried will be available part-time, said Beth Gieger, Orcas Island Medical Center manager. Olmsted will be available Wednesdays, while Bried will be at the clinic most Tuesdays and Thursdays. Both will be employees of the corporation headed by Dr. David Russell, who will be operating a private practice at the clinic, and will be seeing patients during clinic hours, which are Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The clinic is no longer offering after after-hours call, Gieger said. That change took effect Jan. 1, when the Orcas Island Fire Department contracted with Dr. Mike Sullivan, of Bellingham, for medical control. However, Emergency Medical Services continue to be available, through the fire department, by calling 911.

EMS personnel have the phone numbers of local doctors, Gieger says, and all of them have agreed to see their regular patients after-hours. But those without a regular on-island doctor may have to go off-island for non-emergency, after-hours medical care, Gieger said.

The Emergency Room at Island Hospital is now taking after-hours calls and providing non-emergency medical advice at 360-299-1311. But that service will end this Friday, Jan. 9, when Island Hospital’s contract to manage the clinic comes to an end.

It remained to be seen at press time whether two other local physicians, Stan Williams and Diane Boteler, will be practicing medicine at the clinic. “They will have to agree to be independent contractors, and part-time,” Gieger said, explaining that they won’t be offered a subsidy.

Another consideration is that “There will have to be enough patients (for Russell) to keep him employed,” Beth Gieger, Manager, Orcas Island Medical Center, added, noting that the clinic is entering its slowest period of the year, when doctors in past years saw an average of just nine patients a day.

Williams could decide to maintain a private practice at his home on Madrona Point, as he has done at times in the past, Gieger said. Boteler, however, did all her work at the clinic before she resigned last July.

Williams’ and Boteler’s situations could also change by spring, when many elderly people return to the island, and physicians’ work loads pick up, Gieger said,

Clinic support staff will remain the same. Dr. Russell’s private pratice, Orcas Island Family Medicne P.C., will also contract with Island Hospital to handle its billing throughout 2004.

Gieger also reports that Dr. Russell has qualified to be eligible for Group Health insurance coverage.

Dr. Dave Shinstrom’s last day at the clinic will be Friday, Jan. 9. He will be establishing a private practice in Airport Center on Monday, Jan. 12.

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