ISSAQUAH, Wash., Feb. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- On Monday, March 1 at 8 a.m. the new, $20 million Swedish Medical Center/Issaquah Campus Emergency Room (ER) and Specialty Center will open and begin caring for its first patients. The overriding goal of the new facility is to provide for community needs in a way that offers the best possible experience for patients and their families.
The 55,000-square-foot facility, which is located at 2005 N.W. Sammamish Rd. in Issaquah -- across from the entrance to Lake Sammamish State Park -- will feature a community-based ER built to hospital standards and staffed by board-certified emergency physicians, emergency trained nurses, ER technicians and support personnel.
“We’re proud to bring emergency treatment to Issaquah,” said Kevin Brown, the Swedish vice president in charge of expanding the medical center’s Eastside services. “When we began studying the medical needs of the Issaquah area two years ago, we were told by residents and community leaders alike that the most critical need was emergency services close to home. With the community’s growth and the increasing traffic congestion between here and Bellevue or Seattle, we decided to build a state-of-the-art ER in Issaquah.”
Deputy Chief Wes Collins of Eastside Fire and Rescue said, “This is the type of facility we’ve wanted in this community for some time. We can get our patients treated, and we can get [our ambulances] back to our service area much faster.”
The new Swedish facility also houses a Specialty Center, which features a state-of-the-art medical imaging center (complete with the latest in MRI, CT scan, X-ray and ultrasound equipment), a full-service clinical lab, clinic space for primary-care and specialty physicians, as well as a comprehensive sleep lab. The ER, medical imaging center and clinical lab will remain open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The ER can treat patients with problems requiring immediate and specialized attention, including potentially life-threatening conditions. This may include abdominal pain, severe cuts and burns, broken bones, sports injuries, allergic reactions, food poisoning, work-related injuries and others.
“This ER will be unique in the way it focuses on the patient experience,” said John Milne, M.D., president of the Eastside Emergency Physicians group, which will staff the ER. “At most ERs, the patient must fill out paperwork in a reception area and then wait there with other patients until a treatment room becomes available. At the new Swedish/Issaquah ER, patients will be ushered into a treatment room immediately, with paperwork and other details taken care of later.”
The ER will have 14 beds for treating emergency patients and three observation rooms for patients who require diagnostic observation, treatment and follow-up. The ER has the only built-in decontamination system on the Eastside, which will allow clinicians to better respond to treating patients involved in chemical spills, bioterrorism events, etc. Some rooms can even be programmed to have a negative airflow in order to contain contaminants or accommodate patients with respiratory disorders or those with compromised immune systems.
“The ER will be the most technologically advanced in the state,” said Brynn Karch, M.D., F.A.C.E.P., managing physician of the Issaquah facility and CEO of Eastside Emergency Physicians. “Among the advances it will feature are new systems for electronically registering and tracking patients.”
The ER will also have the first commercial use of Microsoft InfoPath. Using InfoPath technology, LYNX Medical Systems designed the software to allow Swedish clinicians to create, access and update patient records from anywhere in the complex using a Tablet PC or PDA. They can also use this software tool to order lab studies, monitor the conditions of multiple patients and view nursing reports.
“The most important thing to us is how the patients experience their care,” said Kathleen Emde, R.N., M.N., C.E.N., clinical-care manager for the facility. “Visiting any ER can be a frightening experience. We intend to remove as much uncertainty and discomfort from the environment as we possibly can.”
The new $20 million Swedish Medical Center/Issaquah Campus ER and Specialty Center was designed by Callison Architecture and built via general contractor Sellen Construction with project-management assistance from Trammell Crow Company. It represents a major step in developing the Swedish Medical Center/Issaquah Campus, which will eventually include a 175-bed hospital in Issaquah if the State Department of Health approves Swedish’s proposal. There will be a public hearing on that proposal at 10 a.m., Monday, March 7, at Trinity Lutheran College Auditorium in Issaquah (4221 228th Ave. S.E.).
Swedish Medical Center is the largest, most comprehensive, nonprofit health provider in the Pacific Northwest. It is comprised of three hospital campuses (First Hill, Providence and Ballard), Swedish Home Care Services and Swedish Physicians -- a network of 11 primary-care clinics. In addition to general medical and surgical care, Swedish is known as a regional referral center, providing specialized treatment in areas such as cardiac care, oncology, orthopedics, high-risk obstetrics, neurological care, sleep medicine, pediatrics, organ transplantation and clinical research. For more information, visit http://www.swedish.org/.
Swedish Medical Center
CONTACT: Ed Boyle, +1-206-386-2748, or pager, +1-206-405-6482, ored.boyle@swedish.org, for Swedish Medical Center
Web site: http://www.swedish.org/