Introducing Orchid Health

After John and I got over the shock of Adventist’s abrupt closure, we quickly shifted gears to
focus on the fact that this could be a push toward a better direction for Welches and Hoodland.
And indeed, that is proving true! I am feeling very thankful and so excited to share the following
announcement from Orchid Health. Please copy this post and share it with everyone you know.

Announcement: “Our (Orchid Health’s) mission is to deliver quality, local healthcare in rural
communities where larger systems struggle. We are very interested in supporting the Hoodland
communities continued access to care and are currently assessing our internal capacity to re-
open the Welches clinic. We expect our evaluation to take approximately 4 weeks. In the
meantime, our Sandy Clinic team recently hired an incredible second primary care provider and
has the capacity to see Welches patients with immediate healthcare needs. Feel free to call our
Sandy Clinic directly at (971) 220-2701.”

I will continue to introduce you to Orchid Health in more detail over the next few weeks on
Nextdoor (under Caryn Tilton) as we work to finalize our plans for re-opening the Welches
Clinic. For now, here are a few highlights:

● 60-minute visits for new patient;
● same-day or next-day appointments for acute visits;
● No-cost student care;
● primary care, men’s and women’s health, and family practice;
● support for acute and chronic care management; 
● behavioral health services;
● available appointments;
● vaccines, labs, tests, and more;
● in-house testing for pregnancy, strep throat, influenza, urinalysis, blood glucose, and
overnight lab results for most other labs;
● injury treatment, general illness, skin treatment, chronic disease management
● referrals to specialty care;
● acceptance of most major healthcare insurance including Kaiser, Moda and Medicare;
and
● anyone can become an Orchid patient, whether they have healthcare insurance or not;
there are many flexible options to make healthcare accessible.

For more information you can visit their website: https://www.orchidhealth.org/sandy.html.

If you know anyone who would have trouble getting to Sandy in the interim, please let me know.
I haven’t crossed that bridge yet, but I know we can work out something with the resources we
have on the mountain!

In closing, I would like to say how humbled and honored John and I are by the many kind words
we have been getting in appreciation for our efforts. I’m sure if you were in our position, each of
you would have dedicated your energies just as John and I have. Your support has been
invaluable; you have inspired us to keep taking the next step. A quote of Margaret Mead comes
to mind: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the
world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Our community has demonstrated this level of
commitment over the last few weeks and change is happening!