This renaissance is rumored to be the result of Kitsap Physician Services being pulled out of bankruptcy by our community pulling together. Having filed for bankruptcy, KPS appeared to be a reflection of the poor health of our local community’s healthcare. However, local physicians, Doctor’s Clinic, Harrison Hospital, the mayor of Bremerton, and even the state’s insurance commissioner worked together to pull KPS out of receivership. Providers took a long-term note instead of short term checks to the tune of $6.2 million and claim payments were put on the back burner. This was the beginning of Kitsap’s healthcare resurgence.

Physicians have been recruited, or simply seek relocating here, due to the good standard of living, the healthy environment, a reasonable commute, recreational activities and the fact that our community is noted for being a family oriented area. These factors combined with simply wanting to live in the northwest, has our community viewed as being a very desirable place for healthcare professionals to live and do business.

Since KPS became solvent, Harrison Hospital has finished its new Silverdale campus. Advanced Medical Imaging (AMI) opened April 2001, Olympic Radiology Associates opened in September 1999, and the Doctor’s Clinic is also expanding. This in addition to other advances surrounding the new Silverdale branch of Harrison Hospital makes for a prosperous economy.

Off of Highway 303 in East Bremerton, Harrison Hospital has expanded into the Silverdale area. The “T” shaped building houses an outpatient medical office building on the bottom portion and a hospital on the top portion.

The bottom portion is home to AMI, the only open MRI center on the peninsula. AMI occupies 11,000 square feet with two diagnostic sections offered. In one suite. The women’s diagnostic center offers mammography (from which it can provide instantaneous results), breast ultrasound, bone density studies and biopsies among other procedures.

The other section of AMI offers routine diagnostic services including x-rays, CT scan, open MRI, and ultrasound. They are open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. AMI is planning on expanding to Saturday hours. Contact them at (360) 337-6500.

Also offering needed services in the area is Olympic Radiology Associates (ORA), which opened its center in Silverdale in September 1999. They currently are occupy 10,000 square feet and provide nuclear medicine, CT scan, closed MRI, digital ultrasound, and beginning in June 2001 a PET (positron emission tomography) scan. This diagnostic tool is utilized as an early cancer screening device.

Of importance to the expansion of our local healthcare system is the growth of Doctor’s Clinic in Silverdale. Its facility is unique here because the physicians can walk from their offices to the hospital to the patient. This provides much needed convenience for both the doctor and the patient. The facility is known as the ‘Women’s and Children’s Center.’ There are four ob-gyn physicians (as of September 2001) and three pediatric physicians located within this 9,000 square foot location.

Doctor’s Clinic currently has 53 physicians and seven clinics throughout the county. In addition to the above Women’s Clinic, it has a Orthopedic and Sports Medicine clinic, Eye Clinic, Prompt Care clinic, and offers cosmetic surgery (amongst other services) through its ENT (ears, nose, throat) physicians. Three new physicians in various specialties were recently hired to expand the Clinic’s patient services. In addition, Doctor’s Clinic is recruiting for a urologist, oncologist, and a cardiologist. It also provides a large number of other medical services for families and individuals.

(Editor’s Note: Marie Buckner is a freelance writer. Contact her at (360) 613-1085.).