About 10 percent of Hood Canal Bridge users cross the bridge to access medical care. Medical travel has been mentioned consistently throughout the mitigation study process. The closure mitigation plan includes two solutions to help meet those drivers' needs:
- A reservation-based medical transport service from the Lofall water shuttle dock to Seattle, Poulsbo, Silverdale and Bremerton. This service will be provided for people who have medical appointments in those areas.
- Community outreach with emergency medical service groups to facilitate region-wide planning and driver preparedness.
Medical Bus Service
This fixed route medical bus will transport patients with medical conditions that require life-sustaining treatments from Lofall to identified medical destinations in Seattle, Bremerton, Poulsbo and Silverdale.
For Kitsap County Appointments
A bus will meet select water shuttles at Lofall and drive to intra-county medical destinations in Silverdale and Bremerton. Medical destinations in Bremerton and Silverdale are clustered near one another, facilitating efficient bus service to and from Lofall. A bus will also meet the water shuttle and provide transportation to medical destinations in the Poulsbo area.
For Seattle Appointments
To provide seamless connections to medical sites in Seattle, it is proposed that Kitsap Transit would provide bus service that would meet five selected water shuttle arrivals at Lofall between 7 a.m. and noon. Service will continue on through to Seattle via the WSF Bainbridge ferry terminal.
A second bus will pick up passengers at the Seattle ferry terminal and make stops at identified medical destinations in Seattle. Departures from Seattle will be scheduled in the afternoon to meet departing Lofall water shuttles. While the medical bus is free, passengers will have to pay ferry fares on their return trip from Seattle.
Other medical needs and bus route information
- Transit express medical transportation services would be offered during weekdays only and will be reservation-based. This would not replace the current dial-a-ride Paratransit service.
- Patients who need routine medical check-ups are encouraged to plan their appointments before or after the closure. Emergency and urgent care will continue to be provided by local hospitals and emergency services.
- An outreach program will developed to educate the public and the medical community on the times and routes of the service at least nine months before the bridge closure.
Emergency Medical Outreach
At its Nov. 13, 2002 meeting, the Northwest Region Emergency Medical Services and Trauma Care Council (NWEMS) -- a functional unit of the Department of Health’s Office of Emergency Medical and Trauma Prevention -- created a new working group to consider the impact of the bridge closure on emergency and non-emergency transports. WSDOT participated in this effort by providing information about project plans, and documenting the group’s progress.
This group was instrumental to the success of the August 2005 bridge closures. It meets quarterly to discuss how it can involve a broad cross-section of medical and transportation professionals in the process, and ensure that people who cross the bridge for medical transportation trips receive adequate assistance.