Verdant Health Commission, also known as Public Hospital District No. 2, Snohomish County, is a public entity that works to support the health and wellbeing of the residents of South Snohomish County. Annually, we offer community health education and invest in more than 60 community organizations to increase access to basic health resources that contribute to the well-being, physical, and mental health of the entire community.
Verdant is the program of Public Hospital District No. 2, Snohomish County, and our Board of Commissioners and employees make up the team who administer the grants, classes, and services available with Verdant’s support. The voter-elected Board of Commissioners includes 5 members who govern the organization, and the staff includes 8 full-time and 3 part-time employees who run the operations.
To improve the health and well-being of our whole community.
To be a sustaining public resource improving the health and well-being of South Snohomish County, collaboratively and creatively working to meet the needs of our whole community.
Compassion: We act with compassion and care for our whole community.
Accountability: We fulfill our responsibilities to our whole community and to each other with integrity and by investing in programs that demonstrate worthwhile results.
Respect: We are inclusive and treat all with dignity, honesty, and fairness.
Excellence: We are leaders in investing, convening and empowering individuals to achieve health and well-being.
Stewardship: We strive to use all resources wisely for the health improvement of our whole community
At the Verdant Health Commission, we see equity as an integral part of our work and vital to fostering healthy individuals and communities in South Snohomish County. We recognize that our community is increasingly diverse and yet there are significant disparities in accessing healthcare services that affect well-being. Equity to us means that all people – regardless of race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, zip code, health and ability status, have equal and inviolable dignity, value and the opportunity to live a healthy life and reach their full potential.
We commit to examining how Verdant’s work can support and encourage communities to become places where diversity thrives, where inclusion and belonging is the norm and where equity in all its forms is the desired outcome. That commitment begins within our organization and with the community. We welcome difficult conversations and commit to continuous learning about how to do better. Through critical examination of the values, policies and procedures that drive our internal culture and external engagements, we will strive to design our work so that we advance the communities that we aim to serve.
Public Hospital District #2, Snohomish County (the Verdant Health Commission), recognizes that we live and work on the ancestral homelands and traditional territories of Indigenous peoples who have been here since time immemorial.
We also recognize that many enslaved and contracted peoples were forced to dedicate their work to the construction of what is now the South Snohomish County area.
In recognition that this land is colonized Indigenous territory that has been designated through slaves and hired labor, it is our collective responsibility to critically interrogate the stories and later lives of these people, and to honor, protect and sustain this land.
After consultation with commissioners, we are moving forward with a new statement to be read at public board meetings that is modeled after the one read aloud at Edmonds School District meetings: “We respectfully acknowledge that this meeting is being held on the traditional lands of Duwamish, Skokomish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, and Suquamish and other Coast Salish Tribes.”
Investing in our community’s health through grantmaking and community education programs is at the root of our work. Funding nearly $12 million in grants in 2021, we strategically invest in programs that address the underlying causes of poor health. With 50,000 people served by our grants and 3,000 people participating in our education programs and services in 2020 alone, we are engaged in work that makes it easier for our residents to achieve the quality health they deserve.
As an organization, we have prioritized supporting our residents’ health needs using innovative approaches that focus on prevention, education, advocacy, and empowerment. The strategic priority areas established by our Board of Commissioners are:
Mental Health:
Goal: All residents can access affordable and equitable mental health care.
Definition: Clinical and non-clinical mental health and substance use disorder prevention and treatment that increases patient access to care.
Healthcare Access:
Goal: All residents can access affordable and equitable healthcare.
Definition: Clinical services (medical and dental) including care coordination and supportive navigation of systems that reduce barriers to individuals accessing care.
Food Security:
Goal: All residents have equitable access to nutritious food that supports their health needs.
Definition: Affordable and nutritious food is available to meet the health needs of each resident on a regular basis.
Our hospital district boundaries include the cities of Brier, Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Woodway, a corner of Bothell in Snohomish County and portions of unincorporated Snohomish County. Specifically, the boundaries are Puget Sound to the west, 148th St. SW to the north, approximately 3rd Ave. SE to the east, and the King-Snohomish County line to the south.
Public Hospital District No. 2, Snohomish County formed in 1962. We operated what was then called Stevens Hospital until 2010, when we entered into a long-term lease agreement with Swedish Health Services. At that time, our Board of Commissioners created the Verdant Health Commission to invest in community health programs that support our residents. From 2011 through 2020, this investment totaled more than $49 million.
