Health Center Project
Vision
Our vision is to build a locally owned medical center that is accessible, affordable, sustainable, innovative and green.
If current trends continue, within ten years primary care and other health services may disappear from West Marin. All of our providers, non-profit as well as for-profit, are teetering between sustainability and non-viability. The sites currently occupied by our local providers are cramped, outdated and costly. For several, the future availability of those spaces is in question. Continuing to do business without addressing this issue is a major factor putting our providers at risk. Communities which successfully consolidated medical services have shown that referral follow-up is twice as effective, resulting in measurably improved outcomes. The new center will provide space where health care providers and their patients can benefit from all services being provided under one roof. As much care as is practical can be provided locally in this modern facility. The community can take ownership of their own health care by helping to insure a sustainable home for these practices.
Our community encompasses a large number of aging and elderly patients who require more care than a younger population. Many of our aging community choose to move away because of concerns regarding on-going health care. We want our elderly to feel confident that the care available locally is sufficient to keep them in their homes and community.
To retain the benefits of keeping excellent primary care available locally, we must come up with creative ways to support and nurture it. We must cut costs for our providers; enable collaboration among them; attract skilled providers as needed; and maintain the flexibility to change as circumstances demand. We aim to keep up with rapidly advancing medical technology, providing increasingly sophisticated primary care and significantly reducing visits to “over the hill” facilities and providers. We hope our undertaking here in West Marin will serve as a model for other remote, rural communities.
Our vision is to build a locally owned medical center that is accessible, affordable, sustainable, innovative and green.
If current trends continue, within ten years primary care and other health services may disappear from West Marin. All of our providers, non-profit as well as for-profit, are teetering between sustainability and non-viability. The sites currently occupied by our local providers are cramped, outdated and costly. For several, the future availability of those spaces is in question. Continuing to do business without addressing this issue is a major factor putting our providers at risk. Communities which successfully consolidated medical services have shown that referral follow-up is twice as effective, resulting in measurably improved outcomes. The new center will provide space where health care providers and their patients can benefit from all services being provided under one roof. As much care as is practical can be provided locally in this modern facility. The community can take ownership of their own health care by helping to insure a sustainable home for these practices.
Our community encompasses a large number of aging and elderly patients who require more care than a younger population. Many of our aging community choose to move away because of concerns regarding on-going health care. We want our elderly to feel confident that the care available locally is sufficient to keep them in their homes and community.
To retain the benefits of keeping excellent primary care available locally, we must come up with creative ways to support and nurture it. We must cut costs for our providers; enable collaboration among them; attract skilled providers as needed; and maintain the flexibility to change as circumstances demand. We aim to keep up with rapidly advancing medical technology, providing increasingly sophisticated primary care and significantly reducing visits to “over the hill” facilities and providers. We hope our undertaking here in West Marin will serve as a model for other remote, rural communities.