Stevens Hospitals is at a crossroads. The question its board members and top administrators are trying answer at a meeting on Thursday is: Where do we go from here?
Its emergency room is jammed. Built to treat about 25,000 to 30,000 patients a year, it’s now treating about 40,000 annually, said board member Charles Day.
Its building needs an upgrade, he said. Part of it was constructed in the 1960s, but even the newer parts of the structure are 14 years old, he noted.
So should the hospital spend money to upgrade its current building or should the hospital build a new facility?
If the board decides a new building is needed, the hospital will probably have to ask voters to approve tax hikes to help pay for the improvements.
These are some of the issues the five-member, publicly elected board is expected to discuss during Thursday’s board retreat. The meeting, which begins at 8 a.m., is open to the public. It will take place in the hospital’s fourth-floor conference room.
No decisions will be made at the retreat, said board member Fred Langer. “What we’re looking at right now is where we are and what we need to do,” he said.
Langer said he believes that it’s time to ask voters to approve a tax hike to help pay for improvements. But he said he doesn’t know if other board members will agree.
If a tax increase isn’t put on a ballot, the hospital will have to save up money for about five years to pay for necessary improvements, such as a bigger emergency room, he said.
“That’s five years that I think the public is being underserved,” Langer said. “By not acting, we’re making a decision. Let’s move forward and try this.”
Day agreed, saying it would take a long time to save enough money to give the hospital the improvements it needs.
Yet at a time when property owners are faced with skyrocketing energy prices and a downturn in the home values, “in my candid opinion, no one wants to pay more taxes,” Day said. “I don’t see that as being a very popular option.”
No specific plans for hospital expansion are expected to be discussed on Thursday, said Jack Kirkman, a hospital vice president. More specific expansion plans could be discussed later this summer, possibly in another board planning retreat, he said.
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
Meeting today
The Stevens Hospital board plans to participate in a planning retreat from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday. The meeting is open to the public. It will be held at the fourth-floor conference room of the hospital, 21601 76th Ave. W. in Edmonds. Call 425-640-4000 for more information.
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