SEATTLE – (March 14, 2016) — As part of the recent affiliation of Yakima-based Memorial Family of Services with Virginia Mason Health System, the two organizations have appointed members to each other’s governing boards.

• Duane Rossman, a former member of the Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital Association Board of Trustees and a retired Weyerhaeuser Co. area general manager, has joined the Virginia Mason Health System Board of Directors.
   
• Jim Young, a retired accountant and chair of the Virginia Mason board, has joined the Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital Association Board of Trustees.
   
• Richard Martinez, a senior executive in the banking industry who recently completed a term on the Virginia Mason board, has been appointed to the Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital Association Board of Trustees.
  
  
• Rich Spiegel, MD, a member of the Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital Association Board of Trustees and a practicing physician in Yakima, is scheduled to join the Virginia Mason board later this year.

The affiliation of the nonprofit Memorial organization, which includes 226-bed Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, with nonprofit Virginia Mason became official in January.

Teams from Virginia Mason and Memorial are developing plans that will guide the integration and enhancement of services over the next several months. Clinical areas designated for integration and/or enhancement first include the primary care, digestive diseases, heart, cancer, neurosciences and orthopedics service lines.

About Virginia Mason
Virginia Mason, founded in 1920, is a nonprofit regional health care system based in Seattle that serves the Pacific Northwest. In the Puget Sound region, the system includes 336-bed Virginia Mason Hospital; a primary and specialty care group practice of more than 480 physicians; regional medical centers in Seattle, Bainbridge Island, Bellevue, Federal Way, Kirkland, Issaquah and Lynnwood; Bailey-Boushay House, the first skilled-nursing and outpatient chronic care management program in the U.S. designed and built specifically to meet the needs of people with HIV/AIDS; Benaroya Research Institute, which is internationally recognized for autoimmune disease research; and Virginia Mason Institute, which trains health care professionals and others from around the world in the Virginia Mason Production System, an innovative management methodology for continually improving quality, safety and efficiency. Virginia Mason online: VirginiaMason.org

Virginia Mason also includes Yakima-based Memorial Family of Services, which includes Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, a 226-bed facility serving the Yakima Valley in Central Washington since 1950. Memorial Family of Services comprises primary care practices and specialty care services, including high quality cardiac care, a continuum of cancer care, hospice care, and advanced services for children with special health care needs. Memorial online: YakimaMemorial.org

Media Contact:
Gale Robinette
Media Relations Manager
Virginia Mason Health System
(206) 341-1509
gale.robinette@VirginiaMason.org