The SPI Med-Center project is currently at a standstill due to lead investor Samuel B. Wilkinson cutting off communications and relocating to Utah.
Despite efforts from SPI Urgent Care owner Dr. Joe Ybarra and an investor to reach out, neither has heard from Wilkinson after repeated attempts to contact him.
“Usually when they leave the state, it’s cause they ran out of money,” said the investor.
Steppingstones
Starting from scratch to bring a hospital to an island and working as a full-time doctor is not for the faint of heart. However, Dr. Joe Ybarra persisted through trial and error for years. Still, Ybarra is committed to getting a hospital on SPI that is desperately needed and long overdue.
At the start of 2020, Ybarra partnered with Sam Wilkinson, a lead investor and founder of Wilkinson Financial. Wilkinson visited SPI shortly before lockdowns to introduce himself, keep the community informed, and demonstrate transparency.
The Invisible Part
Often unseen by the public eye is navigating through setbacks, disagreements, and evolving ideas. Before jumping to build a hospital, investors need to be found, feasibility studies need to be funded, and land needs to be secured.
Island Matters requested updates via phone call and email from Wilkinson Friday, Jan. 13, 2023, and received no response. As of the writing of this story, Wilkinson's website (Wilkinson Financial) is dormant with no information.
Where is Sam Wilkinson?
Dr. Ybarra admitted that although Wilkinson became more distant, he did not suspect anything until he became unresponsive. Later an investor who's been a client of Wilkinson since 2011 reached out to Island Matters concerned about his whereabouts.
This past Wednesday, Wilkinson told Island Matters that new commitments are evolving.
"Friday (today), there's a scheduled private conference call with the investors and a couple of new investors coming into the project," said Wilkinson. It is unclear whether the statement is factual due to at least one investor and Dr. Ybarra being left in the dark.
Still Moving Ahead
None of the obstacles has stopped Ybarra. During Wilkinson's absence, Ybarra continued to make progress by bringing Jason Paret, Chief Executive Officer of the Catalina Island Medical Center, and Wesley Robinson, Chief Nursing Officer at the Harlingen Medical Center, into the projet as consultants.
[Island Matters is following this story]
