Former mill manager files for hospital seat

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Former Port Townsend Paper Corp. general manager Bruce McComas announced May 11 that he plans to file for the six-year position on Jefferson County hospital commission that incumbent Tony DeLeo has held for 44 years.

Cheri Van Hoover, 63, also filed for the office on Monday, as she previously said she would do. Bernie Donaberg, who had not announced his candidacy before filing week, also filed.

McComas, who has lived in Jefferson County since 1981, said community involvement has always been something he enjoys. He was a founding member of three nonprofits and was named Port Townsend’s “Citizen of the Year” in 2008. He founded and was past president of the Jefferson County Community Foundation, was a founder of Habitat for Humanity of East Jefferson County, and a founding director and vice president of the Jefferson County Education Foundation.

“We always believed in giving back,” said McComas of himself and his late wife, Teri. The two met in high school and were married for 46 years. She battled cancer for six years and died last year.

Throughout her illness, McComas said, he was her caregiver and advocate. As they learned about the health care systems in Jefferson County and about Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, McComas said they wondered how people without means would manage.

He currently serves on three committees at Jefferson Healthcare aimed at supporting people going through cancer treatment and helping the system evaluate the patient’s financial situation. A third is the patient-family advisory committee. He is not sure if he would need to give up those volunteer positions if elected to office.

“My perspective is from the patient and caregiver advocate position. That’s why I’m entering the race,” McComas said.

“I would like the hospital to be great. You always want services to be local,” he said, adding that he knows that the local public health care system can’t provide every service that patients might need and that it could run the risk of trying to provide too many services that it could not sustain.

McComas, who has a degree in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in business, also said he could bring a strong financial background to the board.

“I have business experience. Having run the mill, I know what it’s like to be responsible for 300 employees and a budget of $180 million a year, so I have the business side as well as the patient advocate-caregiver side,” he said.

The hospital board position would not be McComas’ first elected position. He also was a member of the Port Townsend School District board between 1993 and 2000.

McComas, who worked for the mill for 27 years, was let go after new owners bought the mill in 2007 and wanted new managers. That company has since sold the mill to new investors.

McComas went on to serve as power and recovery superintendent for Cosmo Specialty Fibers in Cosmopolis, where he said he helped create 250 new jobs. He currently is an energy-efficiency and general management consultant with Cass Street Consulting.