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Swedish/Edmonds Friday announced plans for a $63.5 million expansion at its existing hospital campus, including a new emergency department – complete with a dedicated behavioral health unit and urgent care center – aimed at reducing emergency room waiting times.
According to Swedish/Edmonds, the two-story, 77,000-square-foot facility will also include a new outpatient diagnostic imaging center, observation unit, front entry and parking garage. The building’s second floor will be reserved for future expansion of hospital services.
Construction is expected to begin in spring 2014, with completion of the emergency department and urgent care center in fall 2015.
Swedish/Edmonds said in a news release that the new expansion will offer faster, more affordable care at the urgent care center and reduce emergency department wait times, while also providing greater privacy “and a more pleasant environment overall.” The current emergency department was built in the early 1970s with a projected capacity of 25,000 patient visits per year; for the past decade, emergency visits have increased to well over 42,000 visits annually. In addition, it’s estimated that 15 percent of the patients could be served in an urgent care setting rather than in the emergency room.
“This new addition is all about putting the patient first, providing the right level of care, in the right setting, and giving patients more affordable options that fit their needs,” says David Jaffe, chief executive at Swedish/Edmonds.
The Board of Commissioners for Public Hospital District No. 2 of Snohomish County, also known as the Verdant Health Commission, has endorsed plans for the new ambulatory care center. Under a 30-year lease agreement with Swedish Health Services, the Hospital District Board of Commissioners is consulted on major issues concerning Swedish/Edmonds.
“We are thrilled with the plans presented by Swedish and with the improved care that will be offered to our residents through this expansion,” says Carl Zapora, superintendent for the Verdant Health Commission. “The plans reinforce Swedish’s commitment to our community, and we are happy to be working with such a dedicated partner.”
Features of the new ambulatory care center include:
– A new public lobby — a 7,600-square-foot concourse that’s open, inviting and patient centric
– A 23,400-square-foot ED with 29 exam rooms, including rooms for behavioral health
– A 12-bed observation unit
– New imaging equipment — a CT scanner, two new digital X-ray machines, new ultrasound equipment and dedicated space to add a new MRI in the future
– A new, two-story parking structure, capable of accommodating more than 300 vehicles with free parking
– 37,000-square-feet of additional shelled space on the second floor of the new ambulatory care center to be used for future hospital services and programs
Swedish/Edmonds has been working to improve the campus and its community health care services since the former Stevens Hospital affiliation with Swedish occurred in late 2010. For example, in 2011, robotic-assisted surgery was offered as a new choice for the community. In 2012, a new $12 million electronic health record system was implemented. This year, a new two-story, 17,000-square-foot outpatient cancer center opened.
“New ambulatory services are a key step for us,” Jaffe said. “The addition of a shelled second floor allows us to plan for the future with the option of expanding other hospital services and programs. That’s always been our focus — looking forward and anticipating the needs of our community.”
The milestone project will be the hospital’s most ambitious since the nine-story patient tower opened in 1972. Fifty years ago, construction began on the original 110-bed, $1-million hospital.
The Swedish Foundation will seek support for the project from private donors, foundations and corporations.
This would be a much nicer story if the staff here were better. My fiancee recently had a surgery at Swedish Edmonds and in seven hours we had so many bad experiences that I would drive into Seattle or up to Everett if I ever had an emergency. We experienced incompetent nurses, rude orderlies, an apparent lack of communications throughout the hospital in multiple departments, and on top of it a “Patient Advocate” department that is better at exacerbating a situation than smoothing it over in any way. On top of that, while the doctor isn’t employed by the hospital, they allow him to practice there and he left my family member with a huge scar that looked like it had been cut open with kindergarten safety scissors.
The only bright spot in an otherwise nerve wracking and unpleasant visit to this place were the ICU nurses, Sandy and Mary. They were the nurses the second day and they were as wonderful and pleasant as could be. Still, I wouldn’t want to have to go to ICU in order to feel good about going to Swedish Edmonds, so would honestly recommend people avoid it.
I suppose one response might be that anything you have the luxury of deciding where to treat isn’t really an emergency.
Another reply might be to point out that patients, and their hangers-on, are typically stressed in emergency situations and are quite apt to misperceive a situation. Your definition of ‘incompetent’ might have stemmed from an inability of staff on a busy ER evening to wait on you hand and foot.
The physician that did the surgery was board-certified in something, probably was called away from his or her family to help your fiancee, and the huge scar probably is an indication that something serious occurred. There are myriad reasons why doctors frequently are employed separate from the hospital. The availability of a larger pool of physicians to share ER coverage so that someone can be there to help your fiancee in an emergency is one of them.
I suspect that the Edmonds facility would be very happy to see you choose another provider next time your family finds itself in urgent need. If someone you care about ends up medically worse off because you made the choice to drive them a greater distance so you can have your hand properly held on during a busy ER shift, I’m sure you’ll point out someone else’s incompetence as the reason.
Just an update – I had a very good conversation with the director of Swedish Hospital Edmonds. He was extremely concerned about the events we experienced and is implementing fixes. There will be trained professionals at the front desk throughout the visiting hours. Staff are going to be re-trained not to discuss politics with patients. He was still looking things over but seemed genuinely glad that somebody documented the experiences they had.
Mr. Smith, you can be snotty and rude but it doesn’t change the facts. The things that happened to us should not have happened. Staff at the hospital that have listened have agreed that these things were wrong and need fixing. The fact of the matter is they have had some broken processes that needed to be brought to their attention. I am happy now to hear they are going to address them and make sure patients and their families have a much less stressful experience. I am now much more willing to be treated there because I feel the leadership of the hospital wants to make the changes to make it better.
I’m glad, Mr. Poling, that your pain stemming from not having had a rewarding experience during your fiancee’s medical emergency has eased.
Nothing you have stated supports your accusation of incompetent behavior on the part of the nurses there. Did you really expect a polite response to a libelous and unsubstantiated accusation?
Surely you have a medical background which permits you to assign labels to people in that way.