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Troubled Bandon-based nonprofit will stay open, preserving care on the Oregon coast

After years of turmoil, Coast Community Health Center was prepared to call it quits two weeks ago. But the federally funded nonprofit now says an infusion of funds and a new operating partner will keep services going to low-income residents.
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Rock formations at Bandon Beach in Southern Oregon. | LISA MCKELLY/PIXABAY
January 28, 2025

A network of clinics and other providers that serves low-income people and students in communities south of Coos Bay has reversed course on its recently announced plans to close — citing help from an unnamed funder and another nonprofit.

The about-face, after years of turmoil, preserves access to care for coastal residents even as, nearby, publicly owned Bay Hospital moves to turn its operations over to a private equity owned firm, sparking some residents to express concerns.

The management of Coast Community Health Center, a federally funded nonprofit based in Bandon that operates clinics, school-based health centers and other services to serve low-income people and students, in a statement cited a “groundswell” of support for keeping its services going as well as a tentative agreement for another nonprofit to operate them.

“Coast has received a commitment for sufficient initial support to continue its operations going forward,” it added.

The center is in talks with a Roseburg-based federally funded nonprofit, Adapt Integrated Health Care, to “transition the operation of Coast’s medical clinics to Adapt,” the statement said.

“I'm pleased to see the organization will continue because they provide important services to the community,” former CEO Linda Maxon told The Lund Report. “It's important that we continue this access to care.”

The deal should avoid disruption for patients, according to Joan Watson-Patko, executive director of a coalition representing federally funded clinics such as Coast and Adapt, called the Oregon Primary Care Association.

“Adapt already provides mental health services in the Coos County area, so they are familiar with patients' needs, and they have existing relationships in the community,” she said in an emailed statement. “I couldn't imagine a better partner for this acquisition.”

According to federal data, the center provided care to more than 4,000 patients in 2023, about two-thirds of whom had incomes below the federal poverty line.

The nonprofit had issued a public notice on Jan. 15 that it would halt all operations by Feb. 15, while declining to explain the move.

Grassroots beginnings

Dozens of volunteers in 2009 founded the Bandon Community Health Center, a name changed to its current one in 2014. It added another clinic in Port Orford and expanded to include health centers based at local schools.

Two years after the last family-owned pharmacy closed in Bandon in 2015, the nonprofit founded its own pharmacy in Port Orford, a half-hour away.

More recently it used state and federal funding to join with providers organized as Equity Dental to establish a dental clinic for low-income people in Brookings.

Coast had appeared healthy from the outside, with social posts announcing new hires through December. 

Then, two weeks ago, management sparked what one observer called a “crisis” for local residents. It shared news of the nonprofit’s closure without explanation, saying employees would direct patients to potential new providers.

In the wake of the news, rumors circulated that management had counted on a federal grant that did not come through.

But after news of the closure broke, Watson-Patko told The Lund Report that managers at coast had actually been scrambling for months behind the scenes.

"Leadership at Coast has been in contact with and sounding the alarm to local, state, and federal partners for months as they explored options to keep doors open,” she said in an email. “Given that 63% of Coast’s patients live below the federal poverty line, the 30 to 90 minutes’ drive to their next closest community health center presents a serious obstacle to the patients’ ability to access medical care.”

Coast’s former leader, Maxon, was ousted from the clinic two years ago in what a fellow manager called a “coup" that sparked the exodus of employees. 

Maxon told The Lund Report that she was limited in what she could say in connection with a settlement. But she said Coast’s most recent CEO, Kendra Newbold, had worked “very hard to remedy the situation” at the nonprofit. After Maxon left, two people held the CEO job, each for less than a year, before Newbold took over a year ago.

Maxon credited the many current and former “dedicated” employees that had provided services at Coast over the years.

Former staff members had described the center’s finances as worsening in the wake of Maxon's firing. Two whistleblower lawsuits accused the center of mismanagement and retaliation that fueled an exodus by managers and providers, one that may have cut into revenue.

In late 2023, a lawyer for the center's former medical director, Hank Holmes, warned the nonprofit’s board members that the center was in “serious jeopardy.” 

Details remain unclear

A spokesperson for Adapt, the Roseburg-based clinic network, said CEO Greg Brigham would decline to comment until more details are hammered out.

Advanced Health, one of 16 regional care organizations contracted with the state to oversee services under the Oregon Health Plan, issued its own statement regarding the deal. Advanced is part-owned by Adapt, and many of its members receive services from Coast.

 “As a valued equity owner of Advanced Health, Adapt has consistently demonstrated its commitment to our region, including stepping up in Curry County when behavioral health services were in jeopardy,” it said. “We greatly appreciate Adapt’s continued leadership and collaboration with Coast CHC and look forward to supporting these collective efforts to improve health care access and outcomes in our community.”

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