Health center CEO retires

Involved with expansions, organizational split

MOSES LAKE - The CEO of Moses Lake Community Health Center retired April 1 after working at the center for 28 years.

John Browne, 57, remains busy running a hay farm at his home between Ephrata and Quincy. He plans to travel with his wife to Florida soon and to Alaska this summer.

"I was CEO since 1991. I started at the health center in 1980 as a physician assistant, and also held the role of clinic manager during much of the 1980s," Browne said.

In the 1980s, the health center was part of Wenatchee's North Central Washington Migrant Health Project, now Columbia Valley Community Health Center.

"In 1991 we split and we formed our own corporation, our own board here in Moses Lake, and that's when I became CEO," Browne said.

Before Browne took on the physician assistant job at the health center, he and his wife worked in South Dakota at a rural health clinic. Prior to that, he worked at a Native American health service clinic in Montana.

"I was drawn to (Moses Lake Community Health Center) because of their mission to serve the underserved, uninsured, and specifically, in this area, the migrant farm workers," he said.

The clinic still carries the same mission.

Browne described the separation of the health center and North Central Washington Migrant Health Project as one of the biggest challenges he faced during his years working at the center.

"That was a huge challenge and it was a very difficult time, and so that stands out I think as not only an accomplishment in my mind, but I think in everyone's mind who was there at the time," Browne said.

At the time, Browne was clinic manager with Marilyn Hallberg, who now manages Quincy Community Health Center.

"She was very instrumental in that transition when we separated from Wenatchee and became an independent organization," he noted.

Another challenge was the establishment of Quincy Community Health Center, which opened in 2002. The center was something that had been talked about for years, Browne said.

"That clinic has been a huge success and I have a lot of satisfaction over my role in opening that center," he said.

A third challenge Browne recalls is the establishment of Community Health Plan of Washington. Browne described the program as an insurance plan formed by community health centers in the state. The plan is primarily for populations on Medicaid and the state Basic Health Plan.

"It's a health plan really focused on that population," he said.

He said he had the privilege of serving on the founding board for the health plan.

Browne said what he will miss most about working at the health center is the people he worked with.

He said the center established close working relationships among staff, which has grown from 30 to 200.

"But there's still, I think, a sense of family and people willing to go the extra mile and put in the extra time and work and put in whatever it takes to get the work done"

He said he will also miss the work itself, serving the underserved and people who may not otherwise have access to health care.

What is Browne most proud of?

"I think the one overriding accomplishment is just in my role in providing and assuring access to health care in this community, and I mean community in the broad sense of Moses Lake, Quincy, Ephrata, Warden," Browne said.

He noted the center serves 20,000 patients each year, who total 100,000 yearly visits to the center.

The interim CEO at Moses Lake Community Health Center is Sheila Chilson.