Chelan-Douglas County Commissioners Approves New Board Members

Chelan and Douglas County Commissioners approved five new at large members to serve on the Chelan-Douglas Health District board. House Bill 1152 was signed into law in May of 2021, after health care resources were over extended at local and state health departments across the state.

Chelan County Commissioner and chair of the health board Kevin Overbay, notes that the state Legislature directed the restructuring of health boards across the state of Washington. "We expanded the board to allow folks that were not elected, individuals that represent three segments of the community," he said. "The medical community, community partners, and the users of community services or health services."

The statute requires a wide spectrum of healthcare practitioners to represent public interests. This representation includes dentists, epidemiologists and nurse practitioners. A category is reserved for community stakeholders, such as non-profits, and the business community. The final category is for the general public who use health care services in the Chelan-Douglas county area.

Overbay said the five new board members were selected from a pool of ten applicants. "There were multiple applicants, we settled on five individuals that were primary, and then five alternates for them," he said. " We are going to be providing orientation training next Wednesday, on the 15th to get them up to speed."

The new Chelan-Douglas Health District Board members are Marissa Smith, registered nurse and infection preventionist at Columbia Valley Community Health, Dr. Bindu Nayak, Confluence Health Endocrinologist and co-chair of the Confluence Health Equity and Inclusion Council, Alma Chacon, Co-Founder of CAFE, Bill Sullivan, owner of Land and Water Consulting and a licensed hydrogeologist, and Joseph Hunter, Recovery Coach network manager at North Central Accountable Commission of Health.

Alternate board members are Michael Peterson, toxicologist and public health scientist (alternate for Smith) Dr. Kristen Hosey, WVC nursing faculty (alternate for Nayak) Carin Smith, retired veterinarian (alternate for Chacon) Dan Moody, Wenatchee Confluence Rotary Club VP (alternate for Sullivan) and Maria Hansen, retired board clerk for the Link Transit Board (alternate for Hunter).