MultiCare celebrates four years in the Inland Northwest

Recently, I was reflecting on the fourth anniversary of MultiCare arriving in the Inland Northwest — which we celebrated July 1 — and the remarkable journey we have been on.

MultiCare operates from a values-based mission — Partnering for Healing and a Healthy Future. In the past four years we have worked hard to partner with our communities in the Inland Northwest.

Some of those partnerships include:

• The MultiCare Community Partnership Fund, which awarded $500,000 to local mission-based not-for-profit organizations
• The MultiCare Inland Northwest Foundation’s Heart Strings for Hope virtual benefit concert, which raised $270,000 to support regional behavioral health care services
• Our collaboration with Hoopfest (seen in the video) to provide free medical care to participants during the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the world
• And the recently opened Hooptown USA basketball courts in Riverfront Park

I’m proud of the success of these partnerships and to be part of an organization that made these commitments, followed through on them and has gained the trust and appreciation of our community.

MultiCare’s vision is to become the Pacific Northwest’s highest value system of health. Our values of respect, integrity, stewardship, excellence, collaboration and kindness are how we behave in fulfilling our mission and vision. I see evidence of these values in action every day, whether in the examples above or in the work our Inland Northwest teams do each day across our organization. We are dedicated to achieving our goals and living these values because this is our home. Our MultiCare staff, providers and leaders live in the Inland Northwest, are raising their families here and are part of the fabric of the community.

I recently spoke with one of our leaders who had to seek care for one of their children. They wanted the best for their family, and for that care to be rooted in the values they uphold as a leader in the Inland Northwest. After their interactions at MultiCare, they felt pride that our organization offers our community a sustained commitment to provide the best care in the area.

My wife and I have both received care from our facilities. Each time we have come away with confidence in our providers, nurses and support staff that we had the best care possible. We wouldn’t go anywhere else.

Four years is not a long time to accomplish all that we want to do. But we have spent much of that time building the strong foundation we need to create a sustainable future. As we start year five, we have many plans to continue growing our services and our team. We are building a strong organization — and remaining committed to living out our mission, vision and values each day by providing excellent, high-quality care for our community is the true secret to our success.

Thank you to our remarkable Inland Northwest team members for all their incredible work over the past four years. I look forward to many great years in the future.

David O’Brien, MD, is MultiCare’s East Region senior vice president & chief executive. He oversees all of MultiCare’s operation in Spokane and the surrounding Inland Northwest region.