Peninsula Community Health Services

Peninsula Community Health Services has medical clinics in Belfair, Bremerton, Kingston, Poulsbo, Port Orchard, Key Peninsula, and Shelton and dental clinics in Bremerton, Port Orchard, Poulsbo and Belfair. 2020 was a big year for PCHS!

The PCHS fleet welcomed a new Mobile Dental clinic in 2020 and is scheduled to serve Kitsap, Mason, and Pierce counties in early 2021!  The mobile Winnebago will visit schools and assisted living facilities as well as participate in outreach activities in the communities. Emergency dental increased by 7%!!

In May, the Bremerton Ambulatory Team (BAT) launched, borrowing the PCHS Behavioral Health mobile unit due to delayed delivery of the new unit. The BAT unit provided ER intervention services to frequent users of the Bremerton Fire Department’s EMT responders in a core area of the city.

We delivered our first baby in July of 2020! We delivered 105 babies! We also had several mobile pediatrician events that helped families with barriers to care. Our OBGYN specialists completed 3,071 visits in 2020. They are skilled in both OB and Gynecology specialty care. We unfortunately had to close our OBGYN Suite for now.

Our Bremerton Ambulatory Team (BAT), in partnership with the Bremerton Fire Department, worked closely with certain patients that required additional support. This multi-disciplinary team consists of a Community Health Worker, Mental Health Counselor, Substance Use Disorder Professional, and a Primary Care Provider. In collaboration with the Bremerton Fire Department and other community partners, BAT offers proactive services tailored to one’s individual needs.  

2020 was a challenging year for preventative care; however, as soon as we could restart routine screenings we worked hard to bring back our popular Love Yourself events with Mobile Mammography in partnership with Assured Imaging.  Once routine screening reopened, we rotated clinic sites and hosted two day events, instead of one day events, to help our patients get caught up on their preventive care.  This change to the two day event helped us complete 3 times as many mammograms for our patients in 2020 than in the prior year, with a total of 262 patients getting screened right at their home clinic.  While we have excellent imaging partners in our community, sometimes being able to get your screening done in the clinic you go to feels more comfortable or is more convenient.  We are so proud to offer this mobile option for our patients!

During the pandemic PCHS was able to open the Silverdale clinic to provide Wellness exams for pediatric patients in April of 2020. Many exams (no sick visits) were re-directed to the Silverdale clinic to provide assurance to parents during the uncertain times. Our pediatric patients were invited to come in and receive their well child exams and sport physicals as our 3 Pediatricians rotated to that site. In September of 2020, we opened our doors to all patients for all visits including our dental patients. The Dental Clinic has been able to service dental needs in the Central Kitsap community.

2022 Over the year, PCHS continued to expand its school-based clinic network and the mobile van fleet. The Board of Directors voted to add medical respite services. Community outreach events began to open up again with relaxation
of pandemic measures. Kingston and Bremerton high schools were added to the school-based network in April and Olympic High School in August. The Salvation Army co-location was officially added as a service site in May with behavioral health services. PCHS co-located with KMHS’ new Pendleton Place, a supportive housing complex which opened in spring. A one-exam room clinic offers primary care medical services along with the PCHS dental mobile twice a week. in June PCHS purchased 810 6th Street (former location for the Kitsap Rescue Mission) with plans to renovate for the developing medical respite program. Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) program launched. During an office visit, patients are screened for various social needs and provided appropriate referrals or assistance as needed, such as housing eviction, legal paperwork, food scarcity, abuse, transportation, and more. Voter registration was added to screening questions in July/August.
September: PCHS and Kitsap Legal Services hosted a joint legal forum as part of the SDOH program with legal assistance available for eligible income levels. Plans are to offer these services quarterly. The PCHS Board of Directors agreed to purchase the Bremerton Lindquist Dental building and practice which closed the end of 2021. Plans are to develop the site as a pediatric dental office. The purchase was supported by the co-located Boys & Girls Club and the Bremerton school district, both potential community partners within the campus. The Clare medical clinic opened, replacing the Wheaton Way location with comprehensive services and Extended Hours. Closure of the obstetrical program due to challenges with the on-call program with community partners.
November: Pharmacy residency program approved for the next four years. Clare’s dental side of the building opened for services, becoming PCHS’ 8th dental location. 

We offer quality, low-cost care for children and adults with a target population of low-income, uninsured, and underserved families. Our services include primary medical care, dental care, mental health counseling, pharmacy services, and health education and promotion activities. Uninsured (and under-insured) patients are charged for services via a sliding scale based upon their combined household income.  We accept all major insurances and offer payment plans.

Peninsula Community Health Services is a nonprofit community health center dedicated to "providing accessible, affordable, quality health and wellness servies for our communities."

In 1987, a group of compassionate community leaders saw the need for affordable health care services in Kitsap County. Two years later that concern led to the opening of Kitsap Community Clinic in Downtown Bremerton (Sixth Street), which would eventually grow to what is known today as Peninsula Community Health Services. The organization would go on to open a dental clinic in 1996 in Bremerton, additional medical facilities in Poulsbo in 1992, in Port Orchard in 1999, and on Wheaton Way in Bremerton in 2012. A stand-alone dental clinic in Port Orchard opened in August 2015, conveniently located just around the corner from our Port Orchard medical clinic. In 2016 PCHS became the first community health center in the United States to operate a dental clinic co-located within the campus of a community mental health campus, thanks to the strong partnership we have with Kitsap Mental Health Services. 2017 was a banner year for PCHS opening clinics in Belfair and Kingston and expanding our medical clinic hours to full-time at our Almira (Bremerton) clinic.  In 2018 we started providing services at our first school-based clinic at the North Mason School District in Belfair and opened a new dental clinic in Poulsbo, located at the beautifully renovated and redesigned North Kitsap Fishline Comprehensive Services Center.  In 2019 we casted our net even wider to meet the needs of our community with a new medical clinic in Shelton co-located at the Consejo Counseling and Referral Services office, two new mobile clinics, medical and behavioral health, and a new medical-dental clinic in Silverdale.In January 2020, PCHS co-located with Agape. The Licensed Mental Health Counselor provides mental health services for participants in Agape’s substance use disorder treatment program. 

PCHS currently provides health and wellness services to over 34,977 unique patients each year.