Fall 2020
Call to duty II
Vice Admiral (ret.) Raquel Bono (’15 MBA) answered the Washington governor’s call to serve as Washington state’s COVID-19 hospital “czar” and manage the hospital surge capacity. » More ...
Health care policy
Spring 2003
World health care: “Many countries have their priorities wrong”
“Evidence shows that the family medicine model is the most cost effective and provides the best care for most people.”—Dr. Robert Higgins
If you are sick enough and have enough money, you can get very good medical care in most countries. Sadly, however, many nations fail to meet even the basic health needs of their people.
These are the observations of Washington State University pharmacy graduate and retired U.S. Navy physician, Robert Higgins. The former president of the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) has visited 53 countries and witnessed health care practices firsthand in many of them.
“Many countries have their priorities wrong. They … » More …
Summer 2005
The Hospital Doctor
When the elderly couple moved into the nursing home in Tonasket, one of their main concerns was who would take care of their chickens. Gordon C. McLean (’67 Ag. Econ. ’73 M.A. Speech), administrator of the North Valley Hospital and Nursing Home, volunteered.
Listening to people and finding solutions has been his forte during a 30-year career in hospital administration. Over the past two decades, he’s breathed new life into healthcare facilities in rural eastern Washington.
McLean’s hospital ties date to 1975, when he was director of public relations at St. Mary’s Medical Center, Evansville, Indiana. Since 2001, he’s the one who answers the phone … » More …
Summer 2008
Just Don’t Get Sick: Access to Health Care in the Aftermath of Welfare
Karen Seccombe and Kim Hoffman
Rutgers University Press, 2007
Victor Sidel, the co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, observes, “statistics are people with the tears washed away.” Just Don’t Get Sick, a new book by Karen Seccombe (’85 Ph.D. Soc.) and Kim Hoffman, offers a litany of statistics about the plight of Oregon families who formerly received welfare benefits, but the tears glisten on these pages, thanks to skillful threading of the individual stories and observations of the study subjects. It’s a compelling and often gut-wrenching analysis of the frayed social safety net in 21st-century … » More …