Hospital: Generosity shines despite lawsuit

Re: “Charity care ills run deeper than Tacoma hospital,” (TNT editorial, 10/4).

I work every day to ensure the most vulnerable in our community get access to quality health care. Through our programs at Pierce County Project Access, we are able to serve more than 750 people in Pierce County annually.

The recent charity care lawsuit against CHI Franciscan Health is not indicative of the culture we’ve witnessed over the past eight years. CHI Franciscan and St. Joseph Medical Center are our partners; just last year CHI donated $426,000 to our premium assistance program to help low-income families afford monthly health insurance premiums.

The volunteer hours of Franciscan’s doctors allow us to provide primary care, specialty care and ancillary services at no charge to low-income residents. A total of 161 providers from CHI Franciscan, including St. Joseph, volunteered more than $2 million in care to 227 patients in 2016.

Our Tacoma community was built on compassionate care and serving the underserved. We are thankful CHI Franciscan and St. Joseph share our commitment to quality care for Pierce County residents. It’s through the generosity of organizations like theirs that we are able to help the most needy access healthcare.

(Noren is executive director of Pierce County Project Access.)

This story was originally published October 15, 2017 at 3:21 PM with the headline "Hospital: Generosity shines despite lawsuit."