Patients may start receiving health care at the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe’s new Sequim clinic as early as March 2010.

When the Jamestown Family Health Clinic at 777 N. Fifth Ave. is relocated to a new site on Olympic Medical Center’s Sequim campus, it may include a helipad, hospital CEO Eric Lewis told OMC commissioners Jan. 7.

Currently, medical helicopters must land and take off at the Sequim High School athletic field, Lewis said.

"I’ve seen that a couple of times," he told commissioners.

"It didn’t seem very good to me."

The helipad could be constructed at a cost of $650,000 to $700,000, split between the tribe and OMC.

As for the tribal clinic, Lewis said the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe has found financing for the project.

Ground breaking tentatively is scheduled for March, with construction lasting a year.

Lewis also said the medical center is working with the city of Sequim on specifications for a new road leading to the future tribal clinic as well as to employee parking behind the Cancer Center.

Presently, center staff must park in the same lot as patients, sometimes inconveniencing them, according to Lewis.

The city, he said, requires a 28-foot-wide avenue with curbs, gutters and a sidewalk along one side.

"I’ll update the board as this progresses," Lewis said.

In other action at last Wednesday’s meeting, the CEO said hospital managers are working with the Volunteers in Medicine of the Olympics Clinic on behavioral health services for uninsured or underinsured patients.

These clients include persons referred by the Dungeness Valley Health & Wellness Clinic, which does not provide behavioral health services.

The VIMO clinic has asked to shift $10,000 worth of free radiology and laboratory services to behavioral health.

Jim Casey can be reached at editor@sequimgazette.com.