Belfair loses primary care clinic

Belfair Clinic’s primary care clients knew when Dr. Raul Dominguiano unexpectedly left his practice there in January something was amiss.

Former patients told the Herald their beloved “Dr. D” would never walk out on them without notice unless Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, who operates the clinic in collaboration with Mason County Public Hospital District No. 2, was involved.

Belfair resident Monna Haugen told the Herald in March that her partner had an appointment with Dominguiano on Jan. 6, but received a call the morning of the visit saying “Dr. D was gone.”

Haugen said her and her partner were given a referral for a doctor in Port Orchard, but their new appointments weren’t until June.

When the Herald talked to Haugen again last week, they still had not seen the new doctor.

While the Franciscan Medical Clinic – Belfair’s website still has a statement saying “no final decisions have been made” about closing the clinic, VMFH confirmed primary care at the clinic would end June 28.

Dawn Galvez, ARNP, was the only option for primary care after Dominguiano left.

“Due to ongoing staffing and recruitment challenges, we made the difficult decision to no longer offer primary care services here at the Franciscan Medical Clinic - Belfair after June 28, 2024. We will continue to provide urgent care, along with radiology and lab services, and work with patients seeking primary care to re-establish care with a local provider of their choice.

“We remain dedicated to meeting the health care needs of Belfair and North Mason County as we have for the last 15 years, in collaboration with Mason County Public Hospital District No 2 and other community partners.” Chad Melton, President, St. Michael Medical Center, said in a statement to the Herald.

The clinic’s urgent care hours are seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“The lab and X-ray will continue to operate for the next year,” Mason County Public Hospital District 2 Superintendent Sandra Robertson said at the MCPHD2 commissioner’s May meeting.

Patients will no longer be able to refill prescriptions at the clinic after June 28.

Commissioner Patty Stone said the urgent care clinic has a long-term lease at 21 Romance Hill Road in Belfair. The building is being sold, she said, but the lease will remain.

Having an urgent care clinic doesn’t help Coleen Rockey-Miller, who wants to see a regular doctor.

Rockey-Miller said losing her nearby primary care physician has been a “nightmare” and now her and her husband won’t be able to get prescriptions filled without a lengthy drive.

“We both have several underlying conditions and this has turned into a nightmare, not to mention the drive from Tahuya to Silverdale for basic health care,” Rockey-Miller told the Herald in an email.

She said they finally found a new doctor in Silverdale, but the first available appointments were not until January and “only one new patient per day so we had to make appointments for two separate days,” she said.

71-year-old Becky Westby said in an email her 75-year-old husband has poor vision and “can only drive as far as Belfair on his own.”

Seeing a new physician in Port Orchard will be challenging.

“He is not sure he will be able to drive the extra 15 minutes to Port Orchard on his own, over a more complicated route, and is very upset that he may once again have to rely on me to take him,” Westby said.

She said she feels for all the older people in the Belfair and Allyn area who are in similar positions.

“This situation is going to have to be reversed eventually, as this area is rapidly growing. There is no way it is sustainable. It seems no one cares about people in rural areas anymore. We feel forgotten and discarded,” she said.