Aid Opportunity Sparks Discussion on Countywide Health Care Needs

‘Stone-Cold Sobering’: Lewis County Denied Grant to Fund Part-Time Health Specialists

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Seattle-based nonprofit Vietnam Health Clinic normally travels to under-resourced communities in Vietnam to provide free health care each year. But in 2021, partially due to COVID-19, the organization is looking to come to Lewis County. To County Commissioner Lindsey Pollock, who chairs the local board of health, it’s a reminder of the county’s need to improve health care access.

“Our access to health care in Lewis County is so poor that we’re eligible for services that normally would be considered, in the United States, an assistance we can provide to poor countries,” Pollock said in a county meeting this month. “That should be stone-cold sobering to everybody around this table.”

While Public Health Director JP Anderson noted that the foreign-aid group is opting out of going to Vietnam because of the pandemic, he also said that Pollock’s comments “were spot on.”

In a conversation with The Chronicle, he pointed to data from County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, which, in 2021, ranked Lewis County 32nd out of 39 Washington state counties for overall health outcomes. That ranking considers factors such as life expectancy, child and infant mortality, physical and mental distress and prevalence of diabetes and HIV.

And while Vietnam Health Clinic could offer an opportunity to provide care to rural communities in Lewis County — especially those far from the Interstate 5 corridor — Anderson said the opportunity may not be the best option for Lewis County, as it wouldn’t address underlying problems.

“The issue is we want to connect (residents) with a primary care provider and have that connectivity in the long-term,” he said. “Not just a one-off wellness check.”

Public health officials are still in talks with the nonprofit, and Anderson said something might work out. The key would be using the opportunity to connect patients with a local provider to ensure ongoing care even after Vietnam Health Clinic leaves.



Citing ongoing discussions with Lewis County, the nonprofit declined to answer questions on how Lewis County was chosen.

Outside of the opportunity with Vietnam Health Clinic, Lewis County has also been looking to hire part-time specialty providers to serve rural communities. The idea was to connect those providers with Valley View Health Center or Arbor Health so patients wouldn’t have to travel to Olympia or other nearby cities to receive care. But in a meeting with county officials last week, Anderson reported that the county’s federal grant application to fund the program was denied.

“We got 95% with no areas of improvement needed, so it’s kind of frustrating,” Anderson told The Chronicle regarding the Health Resources and Services Administration grant.

In response, county commissioners spoke about transportation and internet access as major barriers to health care access in Lewis County.

“We can’t take telemedicine out to Boistfort, because you don’t have internet access,” Pollock said. She later described her veterinary clients.

“I have some clients that I actually communicate with by text, when they can get service. So this is a real problem,” she said, adding that “we lack the basic medical structure to take care of our everyday needs for our community.”

Commissioner Gary Stamper, whose district includes most of East Lewis County, pointed to limited public transportation connecting more isolated areas with the Twin Cities.