PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson Healthcare will create a task force to examine the hospital’s role in providing pregnancy termination and to develop a policy governing those services, the hospital’s CEO said Tuesday.
“I feel very good about this process,” Mike Glenn said at a special meeting of hospital commissioners.
“This is a complex issue for all small rural communities, and everyone on this task force is committed to doing what’s best and stay true to the commitment to provide safe and high quality care.”
At the beginning of the meeting, Glenn acknowledged that creation of the task force was in answer “to a problem that we didn’t know that we had a few weeks ago.”
It is the result of a complaint by the American Civil Liberties Union in Seattle that claimed that the hospital was providing inadequate abortion services.
The 11-member task force will have its first meeting April 9 and convene every three weeks until the task is done, Glenn said, adding that a report will be submitted no later than June.
Seven members of the hospital staff are on the committee, including physicians Molly Parker, Rachel Bickling and Chief Medical Officer Joe Mattern,
Other staff members are nurses Jane Albee, Jackie Levin, Amber Hudson and Lisa Holt, also the hospital’s chief ancillary officer.
From outside the hospital, the force has recruited Jefferson County Public Health Director Jean Baldwin and nurse practitioner Susan O’Brien.
Glenn said two community members will serve on the task force, but those names were not revealed because recruiting is incomplete.
The meetings will be private as it is an administrative task force and is not board-appointed, Glenn said.
That decision was criticized by Tom Thiersch of Jefferson County during a public comment period during Tuesday’s hospital commissionioners meeting.
“I’m not happy that the meetings of this committee are not public meetings,” Thiersch said.
“It seems pretty much contrary to the idea of a public hospital district.”
About 35 people attended Tuesday’s session, and about 10 of them spoke before the Hospital Board.
“It is my opinion that our citizens should have access to a full suit of reproductive services within the boundaries of Jefferson County, rather than be forced to shoulder the additional cost and stress of seeking healthcare in communities more than an hour away,” said Megan Claflin of Port Townsend.
Most of those attending appeared to be in support of the hospital providing or supporting abortion services, but some speakers provided an opposing view.
“The women of this community are not denied abortion or excellent reproductive health care,” said Alexis Nye of Port Townsend.
“These same women think nothing about jumping into their car and seeing a movie in Kitsap County or going shopping.”
Nye said that traveling for health care is a necessity for many, that “if you want to fix the pain in your mouth you are going to need to take a bus someplace.”
“You are making this a political and ideological forum,” Nye said to the abortion proponents.
“The law has made abortion legal, and if someone wants to make that choice, I think getting a referral is totally appropriate,” said Steve Oakford of Port Townsend.
“I don’t think the ending of human life should take place in a hospital setting.”
Julie Jamon said she applauded the creation of the task force but said it should be expanded to include more community members.
The Seattle office of the ACLU, in a Feb. 18 letter addressed to the Hospital Board and Glenn, accused the East Jefferson County hospital of being out of compliance with state law in providing abortion services.
The letter asked that the hospital change its policies and practices “to fulfill its obligations under the [state] Reproductive Privacy Act.”
Glenn and hospital staff met with ACLU representatives Tuesday for about 45 minutes before the board meeting.
“We had a productive meeting,” Glenn said,
“We explained our task force, our process, and they seemed encouraged that we were taking such a methodical approach to resolving this issue.”
Glenn said there are no other meetings scheduled with the ACLU, “but that’s not out of the question.”
Attorney Leah Rutman, who represented the ACLU at the meeting, was not available for comment.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.