EDMONDS — Swedish Edmonds CEO Jennifer Graves wears a hard hat and safety vest as she walks through her hospital’s still-under-construction expansion.
“It’s amazing how much it changes in just a week,” Graves said. “It’s kind of phenomenal.”
The $63.5 million project is the largest expansion in 40 years for the hospital and it’s coming together quickly. The 77,000-square-foot addition is scheduled to open Nov. 10, on time and on budget.
The expansion will bring a new emergency department aimed to help people get in and get treated quicker. The project also includes an already-finished parking garage and a new imaging department and observation area, scheduled to open next year.
And the project aims to increase the profile for the former Stevens Hospital.
“At times, I’ve been at community events and people don’t even know there’s a hospital here in Edmonds,” Graves said. “I’m hoping this raises the visibility of our location a little bit.”
Swedish Medical Services took over management of Stevens Hospital in 2010 and promised at the time to meet the needs of a growing community.
Since then, Swedish — which merged with Providence Medical Group in 2012 — has spent millions upgrading equipment and facilities in Edmonds.
A $12 million electronic medical record system went live in 2012. The $11 million Swedish Cancer Institute on the 18-acre campus was completed in 2013.
And now this expansion, the biggest hospital construction project currently under way for the Swedish-Providence system in the region.
Swedish is installing quality programs that will benefit the health of people who live in south Snohomish County, said Edmonds Mayor Dave Earling.
And the expansion will bring jobs to the area not only with Swedish Edmonds, but medical practices that will be tied to the hospital, he said.
“It’s really inspring to see a large corporation come in, clearly define what their intentions are and then produce,” Earling said.
While the new emergency department is not much bigger than the one it’s replacing — 28 exam rooms compared to 22 — the new space is designed to modern medical standards.
A wide, sweeping driveway with a water wall that will be 20 feet wide and 15 feet high will greet visitors. The emergency department features a 7,600-square-foot lobby with floor-to-ceiling glass panels to bring in natural light.
A second entrance for ambulances is built at the back of the expansion.
“We’ve worked to separate the flows,” Graves said. “So patients who are coming in who are ambulatory or walking have one way to enter and it’s a little bit separated from people who might be coming in with more serious illness or trauma.”
One of the advantages of the new emergency department is it has special rooms for psychiatric and behavioral health patients built for safety, Grave said.
The hospital is keeping the entire second floor of the addition as shell space while it determines the best use for the space.
“It’s built to put whatever we want in here construction-wise,” said Micah Dolan, the project manager consultant with Dolan Associates.
The hospital staff is still talking internally about what to do with the space.
“I’m hopeful by next summer we’ll have all the information we need to make a decision,” Graves said. “And then we’d need to start the process of design and funding for a build out.”
While building a project of this size has been a challenge, Swedish Edmonds has been able to rely on the experience of health care providers and administrators within its own system, Graves said.
“We’re fortunate in the Swedish-Providence system — we have more than 30 hospitals — we can look internally for best practices and across the system,” Graves said. “We’re very good about sharing information about what has worked or what isn’t working.”
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