County ponders closing Pullman health office

The Pullman branch of the county health department may be on the chopping block with the budget crisis facing the county.

The Pullman Regional Hospital Foundation, which supplies office space to the county, no longer wants to rent the building to the health department. This leaves the county with the choice of shutting down the branch in the professional mall or buying it from the foundation before the lease ends in July.

“If it were not there, I think the case load for doctors and the emergency rooms would pick up considerably,” said Fran Martin, health department director, referring to the l...