Process Paper

(491 words) Intrigued by local history and the medical field, the two of us wanted to select a unique topic which encompassed both of these passions. Through HistoryLink.org, an online encyclopedia of Washington state history, we discovered the pivotal role that the local Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound played in shaping 21st century healthcare. Founded in 1947, the medical cooperative pioneered the revolutionary combination of health coverage and health care, expanding throughout Washington to this day. Because we often pass by Group Health facilities, the topic immediately resonated with us. To begin research, we scoured our local King County Library System for books pertaining to the history of Group Health. In particular, we found two written by the late HistoryLink historian Walt Crowley, who conducted extensive analysis regarding the organization and compiled a wealth of images in his books. We continued by borrowing books from the University of Washington libraries, including two written by medical cooperative leader Dr. Michael A. Shadid himself as well as a masters thesis and a doctoral dissertation focused specifically on Group Health. For online resources, we consulted the official Group Health website, a Group Health advertisement, a few HistoryLink essays and interviews, and most importantly, the official documentation of Group Health Cooperatives legal conflict with King County Medical Society. Another crucial research step was contacting Willie Foster, the historical archives manager at Group Health, with whom we conducted an interview and toured the archives warehouse. Through her, we were able to access meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, and other records documenting Group Healths history. As National History Day veterans, we find the website medium to be the most versatile and viewer-friendly, especially with a topic as expansive as Group Health. With so many

primary and secondary sources available, including quotes, photographs, graphics, and video interviews, we knew that organizing this information within a Weebly website would present it in an chronological, and thus, easily understandable manner. The two-column format is particularly helpful in contrasting the views of proponents and opponents of given causes, and we were able to modify the design of the Weebly HTML templates to better complement our topic. During its initial years, Group Health Cooperative prospered despite its poor reputation because it supported preventive medicine, physician cooperation, prepayment, and member participation. It resisted hostility from competitors like the King County Medical Society and stood fast to its original goal of introducing pragmatic, affordable healthcare to the Puget Sound. It stood alone during a time when the individuals right to effective healthcare was compromised by the for-profit motivations of medical societies and physicians, focusing on the health of their patients instead of the bottom line. In their conflict against King County Medical Society, Group Health staunchly defended patient rights and even accused other physicians of failing to meet their responsibility as healthcare providers. It is Group Healths unfailing support and exhibition of these values that relate it to this years NHD theme of Rights and Responsibilities.