The future of locally developed healthcare is shining brighter in Kitsap County after Olympic College announced a multi-million-dollar partnership with the county Board of Commissioners and Virginia Mason Fransiscan Health to expand the school’s healthcare programs.
The partnership marks the beginning of the first phase of developing a new regional health sciences campus at the college’s Poulsbo location. Eight months earlier, the college announced its intentions to make the Poulsbo campus the hub for all Nursing and Allied Health Division programs, indicating its need to expand its program offerings and build facilities to match in order to combat the growing need for qualified professionals in the region.
Those plans will move forward with support from local government and health officials. The college announced at a Dec. 12 news conference in Poulsbo that the county had allocated $6 million in American Recovery Plan Act funding to the project. VMFH is contributing $2.5 million, and OC will use $2 million from reserve funds.
Olympic College president Marty Cavalluzzi said the announcement stood as a major milestone.
“The growing need for healthcare workers in the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas, especially in the wake of COVID-19, has highlighted a critical gap in our community’s infrastructure,” he said. “This expansion responds to that need, providing a pathway for students to begin rewarding careers in healthcare while earning a sustainable living wage.”
The first phase, expected to take two years, is aimed at creating opportunities for an additional 80 students each year. The extensive list of new program offerings being ushered in by the expansion include dental assisting, dental hygiene, emergency medical technician, paramedic, practical nursing for Navy Corpsman, phlebotomy, radiology technician, respiratory technician, surgical technician and ultrasound technician, a news release says.
The college is expected to usher in the second phase focused on building a 40,000 square foot health sciences building to accommodate a primary health clinic and spaces for innovative learning and administrative offices. Additional programs are set to be offered in that phase as well.
“By 2027, we anticipate growing our healthcare program enrollment 248 to 663 students and offering a slate of new programs,” Cavalluzzi said.
Kitsap’s citizens have faced a number of challenges in seeking healthcare, especially over the past few years with the pandemic and a year in 2022 that saw extreme problems emerge from one of the county’s primary care providers in St. Michael Medical Center in Silverdale. Varying and expensive costs and a shortage of providers were among the primary reasons that the Kitsap Public Health District board declared a public health crisis in July.
County Commissioner Katie Walters said, “Our collaboration with VMFH and Olympic College is a testament to our shared commitment to urgently address the immediate healthcare needs of our residents while also laying the foundation for a healthier and more resilient future.”
St. Michael president Chad Melton emphasized the importance of collaboration, a message he has relied on in his efforts to rebuild trust between his hospital and the communities of Kitsap. Now, with an additional patient tower on the way for the Silverdale campus, the call for more staffing is louder than ever.
“We know that we have a growing workforce need,” he said. “We have an aging population, and through collaboration, we’re standing here today to talk about the new health care programs that we’re going to develop together.”
Poulsbo mayor Becky Erickson, who leads the KPHD board, said: “I like to say that God works in mysterious ways. It knitted together, it came together, each (person) with their little part, and we are here today to talk about something absolutely remarkable that is going to happen, which is training people to provide medical care for people in Kitsap County and beyond.”
