Board member profile: Priscilla Lewis
Count Priscilla Lewis, Regional Director for Community Services and Development at Providence Health & Services, as a Founding Mother of Project Access NOW.
Working with the Tri-County Safety Net Enterprise (TCSNE) group a few years back, she was so passionate about collaborative efforts to improve the regional healthcare that she continued to work with the participating counties even after the group lost its funding. So when a grant opportunity through the Oregon Health Systems in Collaboration (OHSIC) came along, the group was ready to apply with the Project Access model.
The initial funding and support came from the eleven Metro hospitals and four insurers who are the members of OHSIC. In addition, the four counties committed the remaining funds from the TCSNE to launch Project Access. Since then, the Project Access model has gained widespread support, from United Way of the Columbia-Willamette to more than 2,200 volunteer physicians and other health care providers donating care through the system.
“It’s a good model that makes sense,” Priscilla said. “I’ve been in healthcare long enough to know that a small initiative can grow into a tremendous community asset if enough people are engaged. It takes people working together to solve such a complex problem. ”
Project Access NOW is a culmination of Priscilla’s lifetime work in healthcare. For example, in 1984 she was one of the three people who started a free clinic in Morgantown, West Virginia that is still seeing patients today. As member of the Project Access NOW board of directors, she works with the clinical capacity group, which sets the clinical guidelines for Project Access NOW; with the hospital equity committee, which reviews, monitors, and balances the 11 hospitals’ participation in the model; and with the fundraising group.
“It’s interesting to see physicians on the clinical group talk about cost-effective ways of providing care, and CFOs on the equity group talk about quality of care!” Priscilla said. “Ultimately, though, we all hope to work ourselves out of the job. We’re committed to ensuring everyone has healthcare at the right place and at the right time so that we no longer need Project Access NOW.”
Asked what motivates her to serve, Priscilla said, “I have four wonderful kids, ages 14 to 32, and two equally wonderful dogs, who all keep me grounded and are the reason I do what I do. Music is the same way – my current favorite tune is ‘Luckenbach Texas’ by the late and the great Waylon Jennings. The job also reflects my personal and professional as well as my organization’s commitment to the model’s success. I’ve been blessed with perseverance and benefit of seeing what can happen if you just plant those seeds. But I stand on the shoulders of other people.”
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In her own words:
“I think Project Access NOW shows the power of pragmatic compassion. We live in very challenging times – and the size of the problems we face are too big for any one person or organization to solve alone. We need compassion and solutions that work. Project Access NOW offers a practical way for everyone to be an active part in a tangible solution.. Our providers can see and feel the difference they make. We change lives, we do it together, and anyone can join in.”
