Evergreen Hospital Medical Center officials are confident their new location in Redmond is on track for its spring 2011 opening.
Evergreen Chief Executive Officer Bob Malte said the new Evergreen Redmond Medical Plaza will be a 48,000-square-foot facility with a freestanding 16-room emergency department that will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and work in concert with the main campus in Kirkland.
Malte, who spoke at the Greater Redmond Chamber of Commerce membership luncheon on Wednesday, said the location will also be the new home of Evergreen Medical Group Redmond and Family Medicine of Redmond. The two sites are currently across the street from each other and by consolidating into one location, Evergreen will be able to offer better primary care. Primary care services unique to Evergreen’s Redmond location will also have extended hours in the evenings and on weekends. Doctors will have open schedules, allowing patients to make same-day appointments on short notice.
“It’s important to have primary care out in the communities,” Malte said. “Primary care, to me, is the heart of community care.”
Evergreen Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Tom Martin added that consolidation will also allow them to streamline some processes and recognize efficiencies.
The Evergreen Redmond Medical Plaza will be located in the heart of downtown in the Bella Bottega shopping center near Northeast 90th Street and Redmond-Woodinville Road.
Malte said being located in a shopping center will work to their advantage in several ways. In addition to being more accessible, the new location will be near businesses, which means the medical center will potentially treat those customers and patients who could potentially frequent the local businesses. Malte said this is a great way to boost the local economy as well as create a higher-density downtown.
Chris Hoffmann, CEO and president of the Redmond Chamber of Commerce, said this is one of the reasons they had Malte, who has been Evergreen’s CEO since April, speak at their luncheon.
“Evergreen Hospital is one of the medical communities that have a huge investment regionally as well as locally,” she said. “They are represented on our Board of Directors and are a player in Redmond where economic vitality is concerned. They are also a medical center that serves the populace of this region professionally and with a major degree of excellence.”
Hoffman said the chamber has been holding membership luncheons for seven years. The purpose is to provide information about various issues that involve economic development and vitality in the city such as Evergreen Hospital’s presence in Redmond. She added that having Matle speak at the chamber’s luncheon is also timely as health care reform is on everyone’s mind.
“As health care costs change and rise we need to have conversations with insurance companies and medical entities to educate our constituency about negotiating through a new paradigm in the health care industry,” she said. “We as business people need to be educated to help other businesses be successful.”
In addition to the emergency department and primary care center, Evergreen Redmond Medical Plaza will offer complete lab services, diagnostic imaging services (x-ray, ultrasound, CT and MRI) and specialty care.
