Most of the MAT clinics operating nationwide by companies such as BayMark Health Services with 224 clinics in 31 states, are of a modest size and are in remodeled existing structures, such as the one they are opening in Port Angeles, and are located in areas where the treatment is most needed.
This, however, is not the case in Sequim where we will be getting the Taj Mahal of all clinics.
A $20 million, 15,000-square-foot campus on nearly 20 acres right in the middle of a quiet retirement community and like it or not, you’re paying for most of it even though you had absolutely no say in the planning of the project.
Our representatives in Olympia just went ahead and approved millions in grant money for this without any local input, impact studies or any data compiled that would support a clinic of this size in a town this small.
And had a comprehensive study been done that would have shown that Sequim is an ideal location for a MAT clinic then other clinic providers who open them with their own money at zero cost to the taxpayer should have been consulted prior to the grant money being issued.
This so-called “Healing Campus” is nothing but a huge waste of taxpayer money that is not even conveniently located to the very people it intends to serve and will only be a monument to the egos of its planners.
A long-overdue emergency room in Sequim would have been a true asset to the community and money much better spent.
Peter Ignatjev,
Sequim