Before the pandemic, people experiencing homelessness lacked access to primary medical and behavioral health care, and services we don’t always think about: toilets, showers, and laundry. COVID-19 created even more barriers to accessing these services. The Way Station provides a safe place to recuperate after a medical event, access to hygiene services, and comprehensive medical and behavioral health services that are currently lacking in our community.

The Way Station celebrated its grand opening on November 12 – open Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. in downtown Bellingham, 1500 N. State St. Partners instrumental to this facility include Unity Care NW, PeaceHealth, Whatcom County, and Opportunity Council, in addition to North Sound ACH Collaborative Action Network funding.
“We recognize that good health extends beyond the walls of our hospital and clinics,” said Chuck Prosper, chief executive at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center. “By investing in these community organizations, we are helping address the impact of social drivers of health and creating pathways to a healthier, more equitable future.”
Conversations about this idea started at Unity Care NW in 2017, and the project partners came together in 2019. The planning phase included site visits to similar facilities in other communities, and they recently hosted a group of representatives from Langley BC, WA Representative Joe Timmons, and Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu to learn about The Way Station.
They have stayed consistent to the original vision for The Way Station based on their 2018 needs assessment, with some additions to the services planned, including a hot box for cleaning items affected by body bugs, and providing clean socks, shirts, and underwear. PeaceHealth is working on advocating for Medicaid reimbursement for respite services (they will be the referrer; Opportunity Council will manage those services at the Way Station). However, they are facing challenges finding funding for ongoing operations: many funders want to support launching new programs, fewer will help sustain work that is ongoing and will be transformative in the long term. Unrestricted operating support is the most pressing need, especially for hygiene supplies.
Rachel Lucy, director of community health for the Northwest Network of PeaceHealth, said supporting The Way Station aligns with PeaceHealth’s core values of respect and social justice, and the facility meets a very critical need in northwest Washington. “There are few circumstances more morally distressing for our health care workers than knowing that someone they just cared for in the hospital will be returning to life on the streets or unstable housing,” she noted.


The Way Station is located at 1500 N. State Street in Bellingham. Photos provided by Unity Care NW.
“In Whatcom County, this is the reality for patients experiencing homelessness following a hospital stay. This was the driving motivator” that brought PeaceHealth and its partners together to establish the new facility, she said.
Unity Care NW led public engagement through listening sessions and panel discussions with businesses and residents located around The Way Station site, helping them see the facility as one of the solutions to the challenges they expressed about the concentration of unhoused folks in the neighborhood. For example, Unity Care NW staff explained that The Way Station will offer a private and dignified place for folks to use bathrooms, reducing requests from individuals experiencing homelessness for use of businesses’ restrooms.
There will be acute walk-in care at The Way Station (addressing immediate health needs onsite and then refer them to a regular provider for primary care), as well as substance use disorder treatment. Don Cook is the new facility manager; a Unity Care NW employee of 20 years, who has built a great rapport with his clients and is highly skilled at de-escalation.
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