MultiCare Covington opened its 24,000-square-foot emergency department next to its main building for patients on Tuesday.
Citing the growing population in Covington, Hugh Kodama, administrator at MultiCare Covington stated that the department was necessary to meet the needs of the community.
“We’ve been here since 1993, before the city became a city,” he said. “We built it with the idea that the city is going to grow. We knew there would be a time when we would need an ED. As the community grows, putting the services in the community is what we are always here to do.”
Opening a new department at a medical center contains a large amount of preparation, according to MultiCare Director Kathleen Clary. Not only did the staff have to be trained to use the new equipment, but they also had to become accustomed to the layout of the building for easy navigation as well as the maintenance crews who have to find the electrical rooms. They also brought in Kent and Maple Valley paramedics so they could explore the building before they have to bring an actual patient.
Most of the medical staff in the department come from other MultiCare sites, such as the physicians, who were brought in from Tacoma General.
Some of the staff, such as nurse Dawnette Piggott, worked in different departments. After the oncology department was closed at the MultiCare Covington, Piggott asked to work at the new emergency department. The transition required her to undergo two months of intense training.
“I was ready for a change as a nurse,” she said. “This is a time for change.”
The training culminated in a “scenario day” on March 29, where they had fake patients brought in to see how the staff would respond.
For Clary, it was an opportunity to take many of the lessons she learned while opening the Multicare in Puyallup and apply it to Covington. Because of that, she said, there were few headaches before the department opened.
“There are always challenges,” she said, “but nothing that jumps out.”
The department has 19 treatments room designed to hold 27 patents. Because it is an emergency department, patients cannot be held beyond 24 hours.
Clary stated that although the new emergency department has opened, the urgent care in the main building is still open for people interested in an on-day appointment. She also said the department expects to see 50 patients a day.
MultiCare Covington first began building the department in 2011 at the cost of $22 million. Multicare Covington plans to build a 58-bed hospital with a planned opening in 2014 or 2015.
