Supporting Valley Medical Center, our public hospital
Our community created Public Hospital District #1 of King County, known as Valley Medical Center, nearly 80 years ago. As retired doctors, our memories run deep. We’ve long served the residents of South King County. We remember comforting anxious families in the ER, delivering newborns, providing critical interventions when time mattered most, and helping people get well, stay well and get back to the life they love. Those moments are priceless.
Valley Medical Center is more than a hospital; it is a trusted neighbor, lifeline, and symbol of community strength. We support Hospital Proposition 1 as community guardians who know this hospital’s heartbeat, inside and out.
Valley Medical Center matters to us and to our community, and they need our support.
Valley provides 24/7 essential services—from emergency trauma care to labor and delivery, intensive care, and an extensive array of sophisticated interventional procedures. These services are not luxuries: they are anchors during our most vulnerable moments. Valley has been here when we’ve needed them; now, they need us.
About 2%, of the hospital’s revenue comes from property taxes. Hospital Prop 1 would increase the levy by 46¢ per $1,000 of assessed value starting in 2026, enabling a stable foundation for operations, infrastructure, and vital care.
Prop 1 deserves our vote because it stabilizes critical funding. A modest levy lid lift would tremendously support operations and capital projects to help serve this community. It preserves local access by keeping high-quality care close by—for emergencies, families, seniors, and everyday needs. The investment also supports community healthcare workers and helps recruit and retain talented healthcare professionals at Valley, where they continue advancing medical care for their neighbors just like you.
Support for the healthcare professionals who remain our community’s backbone
We stand in deep gratitude for the physicians, nurses, techs, and support staff at Valley who continue to deliver this critical medical care day in and day out. This levy lift honors their dedication.
Throughout our careers at Valley, we witnessed an organization that grew along with our community, always adapting, always caring and always trying to meet the needs of the people we served. Our hope is to ensure that local access to high-quality medical care continues for generations to come. Yes, Hospital Prop 1 does ask a little more from taxpayers, but what it gives back is immeasurable.
Join us in helping protect our community’s health. Vote Yes on Hospital Prop 1 in November.
For more information, please visit www.valleymed.org/prop1.
Signed by a coalition of retired Valley Medical Center physicians:
Ira Allen, MD, Pathology
William Barrett, MD, Orthopedic Surgery
Terence Block, MD, Cardiology
Michael Burke, MD, General Surgery
Gerald Lorch, MD, Cardiology
John Nemanich, MD, Cardiology
Ichiro Otsu, MD, Anesthesiology
David Vossler, MD, Neurology
