Business Community Health & Wellness

Virginia Mason Franciscan Health making cutbacks at Silverdale campus

St Michael Medical Center in Silverdale, which is owned by the same network as St. Anthony Hospital, will close one clinic and make changes to its Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program over the next month.

Health & Wellness Sponsor

Health and Wellness stories are made possible in part by Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, a proud sponsor of Gig Harbor Now.

It remains unclear how staff will be impacted by these alterations.

The first change will shift control of the hospital’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program to RSI, a forensic nursing services organization, hospital President Chad Melton wrote in an email.

St. Michael Medical Center president Chad Melton during a celebration for the completion of the new patient tower at the Silverdale hospital in December 2025.

Outsourcing SANE

SANE services have been locally operated since 1997, but will move under the purview of the Portland-based RSI later this month. RSI provides care at other hospitals in the Virginia Mason Franciscan Health system, a network of 10 hospitals that includes St. Michael and St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor.

“We remain grateful to our dedicated team members and are providing transition support, including the possibility of applying for available positions at RSI, so they may continue this important work,” Melton said. 

A spokesperson for UFCW 3000, the union representing the hospital’s nursing staff, declined to comment on the situation. 

Rehabilitation clinic 

St. Michael also plans to close its Pediatric Outpatient Rehabilitation Clinic in Silverdale on April 24. The hospital said it determined through a “thoughtful discernment process” that shuttering the clinic was necessary to adapt to ongoing financial pressures. The clinic offered occupational and physical therapy. 

“We remain dedicated to the health and well-being of all Kitsap County residents and recognize the importance of these services to local children and families,” Melton said. “We are working closely with impacted  patients to ensure a smooth transfer of care to alternative therapy providers.”

VMFH notified patients of the closure on March 9, according to a letter obtained by the Kitsap Sun. The clinic will continue with all scheduled appointments until its closure date, Melton said.

VMFH is providing support to staff during the transition and some members may take other positions within the system, Melton said.  

Melton did not specify how many jobs would be impacted by the changes. 

Noelle Pacl said the clinic serves many children with disabilities, including her whose 18-year-old son. She worried that the closure could mean patients may need to commute to Tacoma or Seattle to get the same care. 

“What I’m really concerned about is the other families in our community. We don’t have a whole lot of pediatrics specialty care in Kitsap,” she said. “It’s frustrating and it’s disappointing.” 

Financial health

The change to the SANE program and closure of the outpatient clinic comes as hospital leaders in Washington continue to express pessimism about the financial state of the industry.  

Many hospitals have remained unprofitable since COVID-19. Industry leaders also worry that new state taxes and cuts to the federal Medicaid insurance program set to take effect next year will make it more difficult to escape that financial free fall. 

Virginia Mason Franciscan has undergone several rounds of layoff since last summer, according to online records, affecting its telemedicine and insurance verification teams in Tacoma. None of those have directly hit the Kitsap Peninsula.