Whatcom County has less than half the national average of hospital beds per capita. Even without the pressure of a pandemic, ER wait times are alarming. The COVID-19 crisis highlights something Whatcom County has known for years: we do not have the hospital capacity necessary to serve our community.

People need an alternative to PeaceHealth. Although PeaceHealth operates as a "nonprofit," many executives have million-dollar salaries. PeaceHealth St. Joseph's is one of the hospital chain's most profitable assets, and they use profits from our community to expand their operations elsewhere instead of reinvesting them into Whatcom County.

A public hospital was a top demand of Whatcom DSA member Chanan Suarez's democratically-designed city council platform. Over the course of the year of knocking thousands of doors for Suarez's campaign, this message resonated across all demographics. Our members heard stories from elderly community members who were worried about the availability of emergency care in our community. We heard from young women who were concerned about reproductive care horror stories at St. Joseph's. We heard from a former healthcare educator who told us the lack of hospital capacity has created a bottleneck in the community's ability to train new nurses. We simply don't have the clinical capacity to expand the local nursing cohorts.

Whatcom County should not only be investing in short-term crisis solutions of tent hospitals to address the demands of this pandemic. We need long-term solutions. We urge Whatcom County Council to put together a task force on buying back the shuttered St Luke's hospital in the heart of Bellingham and reopening it as a publicly owned institution. The COVID-19 stimulus package includes $100 billion in hospital funds, and we need a public option for the safety and health of our neighbors and ourselves.

Please sign on to send the letter below, and share your story about why we need a public hospital with Whatcom County government.

(The full petition with comments will be delivered to the county council and may be shared with other elected officials. Comments may be anonymously reposted on social or traditional media to raise support for this petition).