Roger Case is winding down his career where he has tended to the health of Island County residents for decades.

Case announced he is resigning from his position as Island County health officer and commissioner for Whidbey General Hospital. Those resignations become effective in June.

“I think its time for me to go,” Case said Thursday afternoon, “I’m 78 years old and it’s time to do something else.”

He has been the Island County Health Officer for 22 years and he has been a commissioner for nearly 18 years.

His resignation from the Whidbey General Hospital Board takes place six months before the end of his third term. He said resigning early gives hospital officials a chance to find a replacement.

“He was a great mentor for me as I stepped in as president,” Hospital Commissioner Anne Tarrant said. She joined the elected board in 2008 and Case had previously served as the board’s president.

She said Case brought a wealth of knowledge, through his work as county health officer and medical background, to the hospital commission.

Case, who is a retired naval officer and retired family physician, has more than 55 years of public service.

He is quick to highlight his work getting rural health clinics up and running in Island County in the 1990s. One opened in Oak Harbor, which was eventually acquired by Whidbey General Hospital and is the present day North Whidbey Community Clinic on Goldie Road.

He noted the hospital is going to face several challenges in the coming years. Whidbey General Hospital will have to enact the affordable health care act, known as Obamacare, in coming years. He described the legislation as a big unknown.

The hospital will have rally support to get voters to sign off on bonds to fund a new wing.

He said he expects he’ll help rally that support among Whidbey residents. The hospital also has to build a new clinic on South Whidbey Island.

Once he retires, he plans to travel in the coming months to the South Pacific. He wants to visit New Zealand and Guam in the coming months.

“We will miss him,” Tarrant said.

Whidbey General Hospital officials are looking for someone to fill Case’s seat on the board. The person selected will fill the seat until the November election is certified. Whoever wins the election will assume the vacancy on the board.

Interested people must live within District 4 boundaries, which is the Seaplane Base south of Crescent Harbor Drive, the Highway 20 corridor through Oak Harbor and the east side of Oak Harbor, according to information from the Whidbey General Hospital website.

She said she hopes the person appointed will run for the seat in the November election.

Applications can be sent to Board Chair, Whidbey General Hospital, 101 N. Main St., Coupeville, WA 98239.

The commissioners could appoint a replacement during its monthly meeting scheduled 5 p.m., Monday, May 13, at the Whidbey General Hospital conference room.

For more information, call 360-678-6756, or email myhospital@whidbeygen.org