Western Washington Rural Health Care Collaborative

Jean Roberts, longtime administrator of Mark Reed Hospital in McCleary and superintendent of Grays Harbor County Public Hospital District No. 1 is retiring as of August 31.  Roberts has worked at the hospital for over 22 years and has been administrator/superintendent for two decades.

The Board of Commissioners has hired Renee Dunham to be the new CEO/Superintendent of the hospital district.  She began in her new position August 1.

Durham comes to Mark Reed Hospital from Columbia County Health System in Dayton, Washington.  She holds a bachelor of science degree in biology/chemistry and a master's degree in healthcare administration.

Source:  WRHA Newsletter, August 2007 [pdf]

The Western Washington Rural Health Care Collaborative is proud to announce that its website, http://wwrhcc.org, is now live! This is a brand new website for the Collaborative and was built from the ground up. The Collaborative would like to thank Juxtaprose, a Seattle-based website design firm, for crafting an easy-to-navigate, visually pleasing, and multi-functional site. The look and feel of the site is meant to fit right in with the professional yet down-to-earth essence of the Collaborative hospitals. It is strongly hoped that this website will further engage its visitors in the Collaborative’s vital mission.

The About Us page provides information about the Collaborative’s focus and goals. The News & Press Page provides visitors with the latest updates on Collaborative activities, such as grant funding or significant developments in any one of the Collaborative hospitals. The Hospitals Page links to pages for each of the Collaborative's nine Critical Access Hospitals, presenting visitors with descriptive overviews and contact information. There is also a Contact Us page, where visitors can share their questions or feedback.

Furthermore, with its member-only site, members of the WWRHCC can log in and share documents and information, view event calendars, and interact in discussion forums.

Response to the website has so far been overwhelmingly positive. Comments about the site are welcome and should be sent to one of the emails found in the Contact Us page.

Source: Internal Memo

In early 2006 Mark Reed Hospital installed new radiology equipment. Because of their participation with the Western Washington Rural Health Care Collaborative's Teleradiology project, and the availability of grant funds, Mark Reed is installing a CR unit that will be fully operational in September.

This unit allows the hospital to send x-ray images directly to South Sound Radiologists in Olympia and has eliminated the need to send films by courier (except for mammography). Radiologists can now dictate through their system, and Mark Reed Hospital receives the reports much sooner than in the past, often in the same day. These images will also be sent directly to the radiologists in Olympia.

Without the CR unit, which was made possible by the grant to the Collaborative, Mark Reed would still be sending x-ray films by courier and waiting longer times for the reports.


Source: Internal Memo