Jefferson Healthcare’s Campus Modernization and Expansion Project, the biggest commercial real estate project in Jefferson County in 2024 and likely this year as well, …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you had an active account on our previous website, then you have an account here. Simply reset your password to regain access to your account.
If you did not have an account on our previous website, but are a current print subscriber, click here to set up your website account.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
* Having trouble? Call our circulation department at 360-385-2900, or email our support.
Please log in to continue |
|
Jefferson Healthcare’s Campus Modernization and Expansion Project, the biggest commercial real estate project in Jefferson County in 2024 and likely this year as well, is on time and on budget.
The $96 million, 56,000-square-foot expansion remains on budget and will open in phases, starting in August, with full operations expected in September, said Jefferson Healthcare COO Jake Davidson during an episode of the hospital’s podcast. Construction is expected to be completed in July.
“It’s coming along very well,” Davidson said. “In fact, we’ve got some exciting news. We got some new parking opened up for mostly our staff, but we’re able to open up about 55 spots. So, that was a great little bonus during some tough phases, but things are progressing along very well.”
The primary goal for the expansion is to enhance care for the community and reduce the need for patients to travel far for specialized care. New locally offered services will include ear, nose and throat, neurology, pulmonology, and radiation oncology.
In addition to ongoing construction, the hospital has expanded its medical team, hiring an ear, nose, and throat physician, a neurologist, and a pulmonologist, with a verbal commitment from a radiation oncologist. The expansion, which broke ground in September 2023, is expected to bring 75 new jobs to the area.
New equipment is also on its way, including an MRI machine and a LINAC machine used to treat cancer, both arriving in the spring. A CT scanner is set to arrive in August.
Much of the work going on now is internal, Davidson said, with crews set to begin work on the exterior soon, installing windows and bricks.
“We have a ton of our studs that are up and going up. In between those, you have your plumbing and your electrical, so all of that work is going on now,” he said. “There’s about 100 people right now on the job site working. Something tells me that when we are ready for drywalling, we will have about 150 workers on site.”
“We are talking a thousand, twelve-hundred referrals a year where patients have to leave to get care,” he said. “Often our primary care provider will give out a referral, and a patient says “Oh, you know, I won’t go to Kitsap for that.” So, we are really just excited about bringing care locally; being able to offer that here at home will be amazing.”
Once the expansion is fully operational, Jefferson Healthcare will be the first critical access hospital in the state to offer radiation oncology services.