In addition, the Holland Homecare in-home equipment store in Bellingham just established a new division in Mount Vernon to build custom wheelchairs and seating and positioning devices. Specially trained Holland Homecare teams assess needs and work with physical therapists to determine what equipment would help patients with extreme medical conditions, often not only seating, but also custom wheels, extensions and specialized controls on motorized wheelchairs.
"It's become a fairly good part of our business in three counties, Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish, and we've also become one of the premier providers in the Northwest," he says.
Holland Long-Term Care, a pharmacy that serves only long-term-care facilities, is the newest division. Only six months old, "it's starting to grow by leaps and bounds now," says Willins. "It's probably our most exciting area."  
Growing area in health care
He says he got the idea because these facilities are under an entirely new set of state and federal laws, all different, depending on whether it's a family group home, assisted living or skilled nursing.
"Our job is to provide the service and the consulting that allows them to comply," he explains. "We anticipate that it will only become more complex and require more and more compliance. It's a growing area; there's going to be a tremendous increase."
Willins got this latest facility going "from dead scratch" by hiring one of the top geriatric pharmacists in the country, he notes, teamed with a marketer experienced in dealing with long-term-care facilities. "In just six months," he says, with satisfaction, "they've gotten themselves pretty well established and we're going after new business."
Even with all this success, Willins admits it continues to be a challenge to stay ahead to the extent of bringing him out of a part-time retirement and a much-relished English-teaching position at Western Washington University, back into managing the business full time. He also is now president of the newly formed, nonprofit Skagit Hospice Foundation, explaining, "I think that's going to become very much a part of our community's future."
And he continues to be passionate about the market segments he and his employees serve. "You can't be in this business, financially or ethically, unless you desire to have some major value in the community."

-Jerry Willins
President, Holland Health Services, in April 2001 Skagit County Business Pulse