Ten Finalists for Chelan-Douglas Health Board Announced

The 10 finalists for the Chelan-Douglas Health District's at-large Health Board positions have been announced.

Public Information Officer Jill FitzSimmons said a four-member subcommittee made its decisions January 21st, but it took some time to notify all 34 applicants.

"The next step now is for Chelan and Douglas County Commissioners to get together on March 1st and narrow those ten to the five new at-large members," explained FitzSimmons.

It's the board's hope that the new members will be available in June.

Here are the 10 finalists, per Chelan County:

Alma Chacon (community stakeholder): Chacon is the executive director of CAFÉ, with more than 30 years of experience working with underrepresented communities in the region. Café, under Chacon’s leadership, has engaged in several health-related initiatives over the years.

Maria Hanson (consumer of public health services): Hanson worked at Link Transit for 29 years before retiring last year. In her application, she described having experienced personal health care challenges and using the health district’s services while raising her children and grandchildren.

Dr. Kristen Hosey (public health agency/health care facility): Dr. Hosey is the past nursing program director at Wenatchee Valley College. She holds a clinical associate professor appointment at the University of Washington in the School of Nursing as well as the Department of Global Health.

Joseph Hunter (consumer of public health services): Now a certified recovery coach and peer counselor, Hunter spent 20 years in active addiction, using community resources to reach sobriety. Today he works for North Central Accountable Community of Health and is a core group member of the Central Washington Recovery Coalition.

Daniel Moody (community stakeholder): Moody has a professional history of working with disabled adults in adult family homes and convalescent settings. A former coach for the Wenatchee Special Olympics, he also has served in leadership positions on a variety of nonprofit boards.

Dr. Bindu Nayak (public health agency/health care facility): Dr. Nayak is an endocrinologist at Confluence Health and co-founder and co-chairman of the Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council at the hospital. She was appointed to the Washington State Disaster Medical Advisory Council as one of two social justice and health equity specialists in the state.

Michael Peterson (public health agency/health care facility): Peterson is a toxicologist and public health scientist who has been practicing in the field for more than 20 years. Currently, he works for an environmental health and risk sciences consulting firm and serves on the Washington State Governor’s Industrial Safety and Health Advisory Board.

Dr. Carin Smith (community stakeholder): Smith is a small business owner and a veterinarian. Her clinical practice knowledge includes animal disease transmission, diagnosis, and treatment, including zoonotic disease as it relates to public health. She is an active community volunteer and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Confluence Health Foundation.

Marissa Smith (public health agency/health care facility): A registered nurse, Smith works as an infection preventionist at Columbia Valley Community Health. She has a Master of Science in Nursing Leadership and Management and serves as the medical/technical specialist on the CVCH incident command team.

Bill Sullivan (community stakeholder): Sullivan is a licensed hydrogeologist with 17 years of environmental health experience in groundwater, wells, drinking water, infiltration and groundwater quality. He owns his own water and environmental firm and is considered one of the region’s top experts in the field.