Election season underway: Seat on hospital board attracts first candidate

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The 2017 election season started in earnest this week when Cheri Van Hoover announced her intention April 18 to seek a seat on the Jefferson County Public Hospital District 2 board held by incumbent Tony DeLeo for the past 44 years.

Hoover, 63, of Port Hadlock said Tuesday morning that she had been thinking about running for some time, but after the Planned Parenthood clinic in Sequim where she was working as a clinician closed in December, she realized she had the time to devote to the election and to the position.

Van Hoover said she doesn’t see herself as running against DeLeo but rather for the position.

“I have a great deal of respect for Mr. DeLeo and I honor his many years of service, but I think it’s time for fresh ideas and new blood, and I think I’m amply and abundantly qualified for this position,” Van Hoover said.

DeLeo could not be reached by either phone or by email for comment by press deadline on Tuesday afternoon on his intentions to seek another six-year term.

In 2011, DeLeo ran unopposed and at that point, he had held the office for 38 years. Back then, he was the longest continuously serving hospital commissioner in the state of Washington, according to the Washington Association of Public Hospital Districts.

DeLeo, who also lives in Port Hadlock, has had a lifelong relationship with Jefferson Healthcare. He was born at Jefferson Healthcare. His family’s lumber company, DeLeo Brothers, delivered lumber to construct what is called the hospital’s “65 Building.” He was appointed to the hospital board after the hospital was purchased in the 1973 from the Sisters of Providence.

Over the years, DeLeo, 68, has been a fire chief, emergency medical technician, warehouseman and hardware salesman. He has always said he represents the working, blue-collar families of Jefferson County.

VAN HOOVER’S EXPERIENCE

Van Hoover’s press release came from her campaign manager, Tobi McEnerney, and Nancy Biery. Biery has had a hand in a number of elections in Jefferson County and elsewhere in Washington over the years.

Van Hoover, who has not run for any local office, acknowledged that she feels blessed to have the experienced McEnerney and Biery to help her with the campaign.

“If I decide to do something, I decide to do it all the way,” Van Hoover acknowledged of being prepared for the race.

So far, Van Hoover also is the only candidate in Jefferson County to file the required paperwork with the state Public Disclosure Commission. She filed her intentions to seek the office on April 13.

Van Hoover has more than four decades of experience as an educator, health policy professor and administrator, according to the press release from McEnerney.

Van Hoover is a certified nurse midwife with a master’s degree from State University of New York, Stony Brook.

Along with Lisa Holt, chief ancillary officer of Jefferson Healthcare, Van Hoover was recently awarded the 2017 Best Review Article by the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health for “Midwifing the End of Life: Expanding the Scope of Modern Midwifery Practice to Reclaim Palliative Care.”

DEFINING ISSUES

One of the top issues Van Hoover sees as defining the hospital commission race is access to health care.

“I think the important issues for our community are full and universal access, in a timely fashion, to primary care services and appropriate care and referral to services that can’t be provided at Jefferson Healthcare,” she said.

Van Hoover said that in order to achieve access to health care, it is important to have an adequate number of providers to provide care. Consequently, recruitment and retention of providers as well as access to health insurance are issues she’ll take up.

Van Hoover also said she thinks Jefferson Healthcare is a “shining beacon” of excellence for hospitals of its size, but that patient safety can always be improved.

A final issue of importance, she said, is appropriate use of resources, specifically money and human resources.

Van Hoover and her husband, Rocky, own a farm and bed-and-breakfast in Port Hadlock.

Both are active in numerous community activities, including teaching free social dance classes, working on salmon habitat restoration, the education of local farm interns, and volunteering with Friends of Jefferson County Library.