VMFH closing outpatient therapy services at St. Michael Medical Center, 4 other locations
Virginia Mason Franciscan Health confirmed on Monday plans to close outpatient therapy services at four sites around Puget Sound, including at St. Michael Medical Center in Silverdale, by the end of the year.
The clinics will close on Dec. 31, and services will be consolidated at other VMFH locations “allowing us to fully utilize the resources we have to provide exceptional care to our patients,” the health care group said as part of a statement sent to the Kitsap Sun.
Adult therapy services through the St. Michael Medical Center clinic will close, though VMFH noted that it would maintain access to outpatient video swallow studies and to outpatient pediatric therapy services there. The Silverdale clinic has offered physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and massage therapy care. Physical therapy clinics on Kimball Road in Gig Harbor and in Bonney Lake will also close, as will a clinic at St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood.
VMFH said that patients will receive information on alternate locations for outpatient therapy services and noted that services would remain available at a location in Port Orchard and at St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor.
Spokespersons for the health care group did not respond to a message from the Kitsap Sun on Monday inquiring about the number of staff positions that would be cut as part of the closures.
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VMFH also said that it would close a pair of sleep disorder centers associated with St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way and with St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor but would increase capacity to support sleep studies at sleep disorder centers at St. Anne Hospital in Burien and at St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood. Those closures will occur by Dec. 31.
VMFH Chief Operating Officer James Terwilliger said in a statement provided to the Kitsap Sun:
Our top priority across the Virginia Mason Franciscan Health system is ensuring we are strongly positioned to continue providing safe, high-quality care. As our health system, like others across the industry, experiences significant operational challenges we are taking a number of steps to find efficiencies while continuing to maintain critical services. As part of these efforts, we have made the decision to consolidate outpatient therapy services across the region. We are working closely with affected patients to ensure there is no disruption in care. We remain committed to investing our resources in the delivery of high-quality care within our communities.
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One longtime patient of the St. Michael Medical Center clinic, a Kitsap County resident who requested to be identified only by her first name, Donna, lamented the closure and the idea of losing the clinic’s experienced staff, as well as the disruption it would cause in the lives of patients.
“It’s just a constant flow of people in and out of that place all the time,” she said.
“The concern is people need some lead time,” she added. “It’s such a dramatic change; it’d be like shutting down the ER. It’s a department that hundreds and hundreds of people rely on.”
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: VMFH closing outpatient therapy services at St. Michael Medical Center
