Catholic Healthcare Collaboration

Called together by Archbishop Etienne in Spring, 2020 (during COVID), the CHC is a collaboration between the Archdiocese of Seattle, Catholic Community Services of Western Washington and the three Catholic Healthcare Systems in Western Washington including PeaceHealth, Providence Swedish and Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. The goal of the Collaboration is for these organizations to work together to see if they can improve or enhance services to poor and vulnerable members of the communities we serve and to develop and provide services that none of us can do on our own.

The sponsor of the CHC is the Most Rev. Paul D. Etienne, the Archbishop for the Archdiocese of Seattle. 

The following entities are part of the Collaboration:

1. The Archdiocese of Seattle
2. Catholic Community Services of Western Washington (CCS)/Archdiocesan Housing Authority (AHA)
3. PeaceHealth
4. Providence Swedish and
5. Virginia Mason Franciscan Health

Planning for the Collaboration started in 2020 and the Collaboration begin its work in 2021. 

A. MOU - All members of the Collaboration have signed a 5-year Memo of Understanding (MOU). The MOU expires in January 2027 but may be renewed.

B. FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS - All members of the Collaboration have promised to contribute up to $1M for the first 5 years of the Collaboration. Each member contributes funds as requested by the Collaboration based on expenses projected or incurred. Members make contributions in increments of $200,000.

C. EXECUTIVE SPONSORSHIP GROUP (ESG) – this group is responsible for oversight, direction setting and accountability for the CHC. The ESG has five (5) members with each member organization naming a high-level individual to serve as their ESG representative. Current members are: 

• Most Rev. Frank D. Schuster, Auxiliary Bishop & Vicar General, Archdiocese of Seattle
• Mike Dwyer, EVP and Chief Strategy Officer, PeaceHealth
• Susanne Hartung, SP, Executive for Mission Initiatives, Providence
• Michael Cox, Chief Mission Officer, Northwest Region, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health
• Jilma Meneses, President & CEO, Catholic Community Services of Western Washington

D. LEADERSHIP COUNCIL (LC) – the Leadership Council is the group which manages all the activities of the CHC including recommending projects to the ESG, authorizing budgets for the activities and services provided through the Collaboration and ensuring that projects are successfully implemented. Current members of the Leadership Council include:

• Michael Reichert, President Emeritus, Catholic Community Services
• Liz Cattin, Director of Community Health, PeaceHealth
• Rachel Lucy, Director of Community Health, PeaceHealth
• Meghan McCarthy, Vice President Community Health, PeaceHealth
• Lisa Hawley, Chief Mission Integration Officer, Providence Swedish
• Lauren Platt McDonald, Chief State Govt Affairs and Community Health Investment Officer, North Division
• Doug Baxter-Jenkins, Division Director Community Health, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health/CommonSpirit Health
• Kellie Meserve, Division Director Care Coordination, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health/CommonSpirit Health
• Erin Maguire, CCS King County Agency Director, Catholic Community Services of Western Washington
• Peter Nazzal, VP & Agency Director Long Term Care, Catholic Community Services of Western Washington
• Will Rice, VP & CCS Northwest Agency Director, Catholic Community Services of Western Washington
• Mary Stone-Smith, VP & Director Family Behavioral Health, Catholic Community Services of Western Washington

E. PROJECT COMMITTEES – each approved project is managed by a small Project Committee. They are responsible for ongoing implementation and evaluation. Each project subcommittee has at least one (1) or two (2) members from the Leadership Council in order to ensure continuity.

Respite Care

We are working together to provide respite beds at CCS shelters to house homeless patients or patients who live in Permanent Supportive Housing and who need a place to continue to recuperate once they are discharged from the hospital. These stays are normally short term and transitional. This service is very effective in assisting patients with their continued recovery after discharge from a hospital, while also opening up a hospital bed for another individual in need of care. CCS shelters currently involved in this collaboration are located in Olympia, Tacoma and Bremerton. The next goal is to open a site in King County. The Collaboration is also working on making additional medical services available to patients in the Respite Program.

Community Health Workers

Community health workers are historically employees who work for a hospital or clinic who advocate for the health needs of their clients and help them navigate the healthcare system. The CHC is modifying the traditional model so that the CHW’s are located in our CCS and AHA housing. We think this model will have improved outcomes because our CHW’s are located where our clients live and therefore, we anticipate much more interaction and assistance can be provided to those needing assistance.

CCS has moved this service under the supervision of Peter Nazzal, the Director of the Long Term Care System. We currently have six (6) Community Health Workers located in the following housing sites:

• Villa Santa Fe, Bellingham (farmworker housing)
• La Casa de Santa Rosa, Sedro Woolley (farmworker housing)
• Emmons Apartments, Tacoma (family housing)
• Guadalupe Vista, Tacoma (family housing)
• Matsusaka Townhomes, Tacoma (family housing)
• Nativity House Apartments, Tacoma (supportive housing)

Pasos Seguros

This is a service which supports moms and their infants after they leave the care of a hospital. This service provides a baby weigh station for new mothers to bring their babies to check on their weight periodically to ensure they are healthy. Once at the baby weigh station, they will be able to meet with Community Health Workers who can help ensure they are continuing to receive the medical checkups and other care that they and their infant need AND they will meet with Prepares volunteers to determine if they would like to be a participant in the Prepares Program. 

This is a very creative partnership which involves Catholic hospitals, CCS and Community Health Workers, CCS Prepares Program and Parish Prepares Volunteers.

The first program is located in Villa Santa Fe farmworker housing Bellingham. We hope to open additional sites in the future in other locations in Western Washington. 

There are other collaborations between Catholic Community/Catholic Charities Agencies and Catholic Healthcare elsewhere in the country. Some are longstanding and very robust such as the relationship between Catholic Charities of Spokane and the Providence Health System which has been in existence for many years.

What makes this collaboration unique and possible the only one of its kind in the US is the fact that there are three (3) different Catholic healthcare systems involved in the collaboration along with the Archdiocese of Seattle and CCS. In addition, other unique characteristics include the strong structure established to support the collaboration and the fact that all the partners are making financial contributions and staffing to ensure the success of the collaboration.