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closePromise to improve care in the area
Community members gather to celebrate site of new Good Samaritan Hospital Patient Care Tower
Chris Albert
More than 60 people gathered for a site celebration of the new Good Samaritan Hospital Patient Care Tower — commemorating a promissory note of works years in the making.
“We have a long rich history in this place,” said Bishop David C. Wold, Chairman of the Good Samaritan Board of Directors.
More than 1,000 staff and volunteers signed an old door of the hospital’s education department. The door was unveiled at the Feb. 22 event, while those in attendance ate cookies shaped like keys.
Looking through the door represents the future of care at the hospital, while looking back at the history that has gotten them to this point, Wold said.
The key to that future has been the hard work and dedication of the people in attendance and countless others throughout the community, he said.
“It’s an exciting prospect,” Wold said.
The event brought community leaders, volunteers, hospital representatives and others together to dedicate the site of the new tower that is slated to open by Dec. 2010.
“Today we throw no dirt,” said hospital President John Long. “We throw thank you’s and kudos.”
There is still a lot of work to be done for the $400 million project, he said, but it is happening. There will be a new hospital on this site of the location south of the current hospital, Long said.
“You are the reason we want to remain on this hill,” he said to those in attendance. “We want to be a strong light here for healthcare, for wellness, for the entire community.”
It truly is the first day of a renewed dedication to healthcare in the region, Long said.
Two years ago, the Good Samaritan Hospital Board decided to affiliate with MultiCare Health System. Before the ink was even dry the organizations got together to begin plans to expand the hospital and making it the premier care provider in East Pierce County.
The dedication MultiCare has had in expanding care at the hospital is a big reason for the affiliation.
“We will do something no one could ever imagine,” Long said.
The support Good Samaritan, MultiCare, the Puyallup City Council and countless other organizations have had in this expansion has made is making it a reality in a fairly short amount of time, Long said.
“Simply, it could not have happened without the city,” he said. “In my career I have never been more welcomed to a community.”
This is a culmination of decades of work, said Dr. Cecil Snodgrass, President of the Good Samaritan Medical staff.
“The exciting part is we’ve been involved in the planning,” he said.
The hospital is a place and will be a place that physicians want to be a part of because it is a place where they know they can practice the kind of medicine they want to, Snodgrass said.
“It really is going to be home,” he said.