Additionally, the area’s 45-and-older population, which is more likely to need orthopedic care, is expected to grow 11% in the next five years, Cutter said.

That, coupled with a shrinking staff at Proliance Surgeons Skagit Northwest Orthopedics in Anacortes, prompted the hospital and its board in March 2024 to begin looking at how it could offer those services itself.

That fall, the hospital learned Proliance would be moving out of its Anacortes clinic by May of this year, so it purchased the building.

On May 19, the clinic reopened as Island Orthopedics, headed up by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Eric Secrist, who previously worked for Proliance and performed surgeries at Island Health as a contract surgeon.

“It happened to be very good timing for me,” Secrist said. “I want to raise my family in this town. I want my kids to graduate from Anacortes High School.”

The new clinic, at 2720 Commercial Ave., will host a ribbon-cutting and open house at 4 p.m. Thursday, June 12.

Secrist, as well as Drs. Jennifer Reem and Ryan Myers, will be on hand to answer questions and show visitors around.

Reem and Myers, both former U.S. Navy surgeons, bring their experience treating sports-related injuries to the new clinic, which features on-site imaging services and a full suite of orthopedic and arthroscopic equipment, thanks to $700,000 from the Island Health Foundation.

“They have extensive experience with arthroscopic surgeries, ligament reconstructions and fracture care in extremely high-demand patients,” Secrist said. “They’re very well equipped to care for both the young athlete population as well as kind of the weekend warrior types, because they’ve provided care for actual warriors.”

Island Health had not previously provided sports medicine care, Cutter said.

The clinic is partnering with Island Sports & Spine to offer nonoperative treatment of musculoskeletal injuries and chronic conditions. And it provides personalized treatment plans for both operative and nonoperative musculoskeletal conditions, allowing patients to regain mobility without having to travel outside the area for care.

Having a clinic in town is a big deal for Secrist’s patients, as well, she said, because orthopedic surgeries typically come with years of follow-up appointments.

“Every single time somebody comes back to me with a joint replacement, I move it, I feel it, I put stress on it to make sure it’s not changing over time,” he said. “You can’t do that over Zoom.”

Secrist acknowledged that the fear of something going wrong with a joint-replacement surgery can keep some patients from going through with it in the first place.

“This is something they’re counting on to be able to walk for the remainder of their life,” he said, “and they want to know that if there’s a problem, somebody’s going to be there to fix the problem.”

Fortunately, Secrist is uniquely qualified — as the only fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon in the region spanning Skagit, Island, San Juan, Okanogan and Whatcom counties — to fix problems that arise after an initial surgery.

“Some people have told me that they can’t go to Seattle because their knee hurts too much to ride in the car that long,” Secrist said. “For those people, the alternative to me being here is just kind of persisting in a state of chronic pain.”

While the new clinic won’t be able to meet the full demand for orthopedic surgeries in the area, the hospital’s goal is to double its impact over five years by serving 50% of those who need such a surgery, instead of the current 25%.

The hospital also hopes to recruit a spine surgeon and other specialists to join the clinic, Cutter said.

For now, beyond its three surgeons, the clinic also boasts two physician assistants.

“We’re just really excited to offer this to the community,” Cutter said, “because we were not meeting the need that was here, and that’s what we exist to do as a public hospital district.”