Seattle’s Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center is planning a new $35 million outpatient pediatric medical center in Snohomish County, which could open in the next five years.
Dr. Sanford Melzer, the hospital’s senior vice president for planning and business development, laid out the plans for the center during an interview Thursday.
The expansion in Snohomish County is one part of the organization’s $1 billion, 10-year plan for the regional hospital.
Children’s also wants to build a similar outpatient center opening in 2010 in the Bellevue area, a 1 million-square-foot research center in downtown Seattle and upgrade its current Seattle hospital campus, he said.
The goal is to either lease or build a facility in Snohomish County that will open by 2012. It would provide outpatient surgeries, outpatient urgent care and up to 15 pediatric specialty services, such as cardiology, endocrinology, sports medicine and neurology, Melzer said.
Chemotherapy services may also be offered, he said.
It’s too early to know where the center might be located in the county, Melzer said. “One of our criteria is we want good freeway access and visibility” and a location that anticipates future growth, he said.
The news follows on the heels of an announcement in late April that the University of Washington would establish a branch campus to serve students in Snohomish, Island and Skagit counties.
Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson, who hopes both projects will be come to his city, said he could imagine training partnerships developing between the college campus and a Children’s outpatient center in the county.
He said the big announcements are part of an “emergence of our community for the next 100 years.”
“You cannot force businesses, universities and hospitals to invest in your communities if there is not a good economic model or need,” he said.
Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon said the need for such a facility has been talked about at least since 2002, when he served in the Legislature.
He said the outpatient center will help improve the quality of life for residents in the fast-growing county – especially for families with sick children who face long commutes for medical care in Seattle. It will also likely generate jobs for the area.
“It goes right in line with what we’re trying to do to create a first-class community in Snohomish County,” he said.
Children’s has had a presence in Snohomish County since the opening in 2002 of the Pavilion for Women and Children, part of Providence Everett Medical Center.
Children’s currently provides some specialty services, such as cardiology, at Pavilion.
It also operates the hospital’s newborn intensive care unit, which treated 538 infants last year. Children’s provides the unit’s physicians and nurse practitioners as part of a joint venture with the hospital.
Children’s most-used specialists based in Everett now are only available every other week, Melzer said. The outpatient center would mean such services could be provided in Snohomish County more frequently, one or more days a week.
Children’s treats pediatric patients from Washington, Montana, Alaska and Idaho who need specialty care, including heart transplants, leukemia treatment and psychiatric care.
It also provides services at hospitals in Wenatchee and Anchorage, Alaska, and has clinics in Olympia, Yakima, Federal Way and Bellevue.
An outpatient center such as the ones envisioned in Everett and Bellevue would be bigger and would provide more services than currently offered at its clinics.
The decision to open a standalone outpatient medical center in Snohomish County was made because of the increasing demand for pediatric medical services, Melzer said.
Of the 71,095 infants and children treated at Children’s last year, about 16 percent came from Snohomish County.
Pediatric medical specialists are needed because children, particularly very young children, are different physiologically than adults, said Gail Larson, chief executive of Providence Everett Medical Center.
“We’re quite pleased,” she said of Children’s plans for an outpatient medical center. “If they have a bigger presence here, there would be more medical services and specialty care for children in Snohomish County.”
Reporter David Chircop contributed to this story.
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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