AUGUST 2022
Pullman Community Update 1
Pullman Community Update
VOL. 28 | NO. 8 AUGUST 2022
PULLMAN REGIONAL HOSPITAL
Pullman Regional Hospital, Patient Care Expansion
Timely access to exceptional healthcare. More access. More services. More patient care space. Less wait for great healthcare. Our patient volumes and our region’s population are growing; we have outgrown our physical spaces to provide the 5-star caliber of patient care synonymous with Pullman Regional Hospital. We need to expand our emergency department so award-winning emergency medicine is provided in treatment rooms instead of hallways. We need to recruit more specialists and provide more specialty care like psychiatry, oncology, neurology, dermatology and rheumatology, but we do not have the physical space for these providers or patients. We need to better meet our patients’ needs through team medicine and co-locate practices like Palouse Pediatrics and Pullman Family Medicine on the hospital campus. We need to make mental health part of the patience experience, so that we can address a crucial community need. Our shortage of space, providers and healthcare services comes at the cost of timely care for you. It’s time to grow. “The obvious growth is in the size of our city. But there is another type of growth that affects the hospital, and it is “hidden” to those outside the hospital. This “hidden growth” is the amazing increase in complexity of medical and surgical care. Illnesses that we used to treat with one drug, now require 6 drugs to treat. This puts pressure on Pharmacy, Nursing Staff, and Informatics Staff. Surgery is not immune from this either. When new surgery departments are built, every piece of surgery equipment has a place. Within a year the surgery department is storing equipment in the hallway. Each year there is more and more surgery equipment stored in the hallway, and now the hallway is full. This is why we desperately need more space!” Dr. Michael Murphy, Pullman Regional Hospital Commissioners In 2004, Pullman Regional Hospital opened our doors to a new, stateof-the-art facility on Bishop Blvd. Today, 100,000 square feet of space is wholly dedicated to serving the region as a public, non-for-profit community hospital, open to anyone and everyone. We are a regional destination for healthcare. Our continued investment in people and medical technology means more and more people are choosing to receive care and work at Pullman Regional Hospital and our network of clinics. Year after year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid rate our patient experience the highest designation—5-stars. For us, living in a small town means personal, exceptional healthcare. It means state-of-theart medical technology. It means access to primary care, emergency care, and specialized healthcare. It means growing our capacity so that we can care for our community today and tomorrow. “People have come to expect quality care when they come to Pullman Regional Hospital. That’s been our standard, our commitment to the community for years. The inadequacy of space inhibits our ability to
maintain those high standards. It further constrains our exceptional medical caregivers from providing the broad spectrum of services required by their patients when space limitations prevent us from expanding current practices or bringing in new specialists.” Tricia Grantham, Pullman Regional Hospital Commissioners Over the course of 18 years, there has been more than 18 remodels projects, one minor addition, and each year, services are relocated off the main campus to make more room for patient care. Every area of patient care at Pullman Regional Hospital has seen growth. The addition of 10,000 square feet in 2018 for Same-Day Services is the only project which added to the footprint of Pullman Regional Hospital. During those 18 years, the city of Pullman has continued to grow and is projected to grow even more. Pullman experienced a 3% population increase from 2015-2020, and a 13% population increase is projected 2020-2025. Simply put, we are out of square footage to see and treat our growing community, and we need to expand patient care spaces. “This proposal is whittled down to the bare essentials and contains no frills. It manages to meet our health care community’s highest needs in an affordable manner. The proposed hospital expansion is necessary to maintaining the high standards of safety and quality that our community expects and deserves. We, as commissioners can do no less than wholeheartedly endorse this plan.” Karen Karpman, Pullman Regional Hospital Commissioners
Project Quick Facts
In This Issue: Pullman Regional Hospital Washington Idaho Symphony Community Colleges of Spokane Whitman County Humane Society Pullman Community Montessori Gladish Community & Cultural Center Washington State University Community Action Center Community Calendar National Lentil Festival Pullman Chamber of Commerce Kiwanis Club of Pullman Pullman School District City of Pullman Pullman Depot Gladish Performing Arts Centre
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$45 million project cost for 80,000 square foot expansion, medical equipment, and remodel of Pullman Regional Hospital and hospital-owned properties: • Expand Emergency Department by 50-60% for triage rooms and mental health services • Addition of a fifth OR, GI lab and expansion of surgery recovery unit • Specialty healthcare space for potential new services such as endocrinology, dermatology, rheumatology • Move providers and practices onsite to enhance patient access and to eliminate cost of rented spaces – Palouse Pediatrics and Pullman Family Medicine • Imaging services expansion – PET scanner, additional CT and MRI, mammography suite • Integration of all therapy services onsite – physical, occupational, massage and speech therapy, genetic counseling, acupuncture and all pediatric therapy including feeding and physical therapy and women’s pelvic health therapy • Expansion of Orthopedic and Sports Medicine patient care • Enhance security and technology in BirthPlace • Expand Sleep Study & Sleep Medicine • Expand cardio-pulmonary services • Simulation lab for healthcare workers and community training and learning • Expansion of lab and testing • Relocate administrative services to current therapy building (Summit Therapy) to make use of owned hospital properties and reduce rented spaces
PULLMAN Community Update
Learn more: www.pullmanregional.org/expansion
ccooperpullman@gmail.com