Friends of the Clinic will meet on Wednesday, November 18th, 2:00 p.m. at the Lions Club.  We have updates to share as well as a guest speaker.  Everyone is welcome.

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By Bryan Johnson

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To the wonderful residents of Ocean Shores and the North Beach,

 We at Sea Mar Community Health Center would like to say thank you for your continued support over the last year as we have undergone some tremendous changes. We appreciate the understanding and the patience from everyone. We also want everyone to know that we are always accepting new patients that may have been “misplaced” recently, those that are new to the area or just passing through. We would love to meet you and have the opportunity to help in your health care needs. We take Medicare, Medicaid, Private insurance as well as uninsured (sliding fee scale available). We are located just 5 minutes from Hogans Corner at 3010 ST RT 109 just past Ocean City.  

 We received official word today that Dr. Holm is closed. We want patients to know that we are doing our very best to schedule new patients as quickly as possible and are making sure we have plenty of room

Dr. Alfred John Holm is closing Coastal Family Clinic. He is no longer seeing patients. Tonia Holm, his wife, will continue as office manager at the clinic until Sept. 18. The Holms will continue to live in Ocean Shores, Tonia said just before noon. Dr. Holm will devote his time to being an ER doctor at various southwestern Washington hospitals.

Here is a photo of the letter posted on the clinic’s door:

Dr. Holm’s Coastal Family Medicine is closed until Tuesday, Aug. 18, says answering machine.

If you need non-emergency medical care, call Sea Mar in Copalis Beach, 289-2427.

As part of his Senior Project, a North Beach High School student challenged a friend in South Carolina to debate health care. Here are their essays:

The Conservative Side of Universal Health Care

By Kevin Cadle

Ocean Shores

Imagine that you are sitting at home and happen to have a heart attack, a fairly common occurrence. A simple fix, right? Just call the ambulance, they take you to the hospital, your life is more likely than not saved. Now imagine that the hospital you are moving to is full, and the surrounding hospitals and clinics are the same. The medics have no choice but to make you stay in the ambulance with whatever help they can give until a room in the hospital opens up, a full nine hours later.

From March 22 to May 1, the Ocean Shores Fire Department responded to 230 calls: 192 medical related, 38 fire related.

OSFD LOG

 09-0000309- 04/02/2009  FIRE STATION WI FALL                           1 EMS 

09-0000384- 04/02/2009  BLUE WING LP SE LP DIABETIC PROBLEM                  1 EMS 

09-0000421- 03/22/2009  SCHRAM DRIVE DRI PASSED AWAY                       1 EMS 

09-0000422- 03/22/2009  FIRE STATION WALKIN                            1 EMS 

Read this afternoon at a Friends of the Clinic meeting. Toward the end, the Ocean Shores doctor says “there is a planned merger of our clinic and the Ocean Reach Clinic in the near future.” Ocean Reach ultimately plans to build a mixed healthcare/professional/residential facility, on Pt. Brown Avenue just inside the gates of Ocean Shores. The Dr. Holm letter, in its entirety:

     April 12, 2009

Dear Friends of the Clinic,

I want to once again congratulate all of the members of the FOC on the one year anniversary of your organization and the profound impact you have had on the community, namely, you have been the reason that Ocean Shores has continued to have a clinic. I recall it was a little more than one year ago that we were seriously contemplating closing the clinic and it was solely because of your organization that we have stayed open for the past year. It has not been because of any large amount of donated money, since you all know the money generated has been relatively small and has been used solely in the repair of the building or paying for legal aspects for the formation of the FOC’s nonprofit status. I personally have not accepted any donations in any form, nor do I intend to. The only reason we have struggled for yet another year is because of the fact that a determined group of private citizens, almost all retired and some very tired, organized together to make a positive difference in the community and with various fundraisers and donations and many hours of hard work, were able to perform a much needed facelift and repair of the actual clinic building.

According to a press release just in, Dr. Alfred John Holm has agreed to merge with the planned new clinic.

The release:

Ocean Reach Medical Complex 

In a recent conference call with Ocean Shores Mayor Dean Bunkers, private investors with Ocean Reach Investment Group, LLC, Gig Harbor, announced plans to develop a multi-story, medical office complex in Ocean Shores. 

It is envisioned the new 45,000 SF Ocean Reach Medical Complex will open its doors in early 2010 to genre Ocean Shores and North Beach residents with the area’s first combined walk-in/urgent care and family practice clinic Market research suggests many of the area’s 7,000+ permanent residents and 4 million annual tourists now travel to Aberdeen/Hoquiam or beyond to obtain unscheduled walk-in or urgent care services. Population demographics evaluated in the clinic’s planning phase included Ocean Shores, 

Iron Springs, Copalis Beach, Seabrook, Roosevelt Beach, Ocean Grove, Pacific Beach and Moclips in the project service area. 

The proposed 45.000 SF, 5-story complex will include a 4,200 SF full service walk-in/urgent care medical clinic, with capacity for up to four doctors and health practitioners, a clinical laboratory, diagnostic ultrasound and radiology. It is anticipated a full service pharmacy will be located on the ground floor adjacent to the clinic and offer drive up window and on-line prescription service. 

Dr. John Holm, local family practice physician, will merge his practice with and become part of; the initial medical group. It is hoped that Grays Harbor Community Hospital will also play a role in the new clinic.