Gov. Jay Inslee names ICHS winner of the 2015 Warren Featherstone Reid Award for Excellence in Health Care

ICHS Shoreline Clinics on Aurora

Gov. Jay Inslee has named International Community Health Services (ICHS) winner of the 2015 Warren Featherstone Reid Award for Excellence in Health Care.

The annual award, which was established by the state legislature in 1994, identifies and honors health care providers and facilities in Washington state who exhibit exceptional quality and value in the delivery of health services. The award is named after Warren Featherstone Reid, former aide to then-U.S. Senator Warren G. Magnuson and former Washington state Board of Health chairman, whose special interest was health policy.

“From its beginning in 1973 as a small, storefront clinic in Seattle’s International District to today, ICHS has worked to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate health services to Asian Pacific Islanders. Your mission has become a reality, with ICHS offering a variety of services – medical, dental, behavioral health, and pharmacy – to more than 20,000 patients speaking close to 50 languages. This access to care for an underserved population in our state exemplifies the very spirit of this award,” Gov. Inslee wrote in a letter announcing the award for ICHS.

ICHS won in the Health Care Facility category following a competitive nomination process that required presentation of data and discussions about how nominees have excelled in the following areas:

• Ensuring access to care for Washington residents. 
• Increasing customer satisfaction. 
• Improving the quality of clinical care, including preventive care. 
• Reducing the costs of services while maintaining quality of care. 
• Developing creative and innovative ways to deliver services. 
• Providing leadership in achieving excellence in health care. 

ICHS’ nomination drew from its record of going above and beyond to serve its patients and communities, highlighting successes, including receiving high rates of satisfaction ratings from its patients; implementing groundbreaking work to get more people to sign up for affordable health insurance; integrating behavioral health care with primary medical care services; and pursuing unique projects and initiatives, including setting up a Mobile Dental Clinic, and opening clinics at Seattle World School and Asian Counseling and Referral Service, to expand its reach.

“It’s a very well deserved recognition from the state and I am very pleased to be a part of it,” said Martha Choe, former Seattle City Councilmember and former Chief Administrative Officer of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who nominated ICHS for the award. “ICHS has a long history of service in our community and continues to be an important health care resource for many of our neighbors.”