Only 14 months after breaking ground, the ribbon was cut Saturday morning at the new Swedish Edmonds emergency center, the latest addition to hospital’s Edmonds campus.

“This is the opposite the traditional idea of how a hospital looks,” said Swedish Edmonds CEO Jennifer Graves. “We want patients, families and visitors to have a positive experience and provide an atmosphere that is calming, fun to be in and beautiful, while at the same time optimizing patient care, communication and workflow for our staff.”

The design and features of the new 77,000-square-foot facility embody the latest advances in facility layout, ambiance and range of services, all in a stunning new structure emphasizing open space, light, Northwest art, and even an outdoor bistro and waterfall. The design reflects and embodies the logging and shingle-mill heritage of the Edmonds community through features that include a driftwood wall composed of logs salvaged from Puget Sound, a fireplace wall, and laser-etched woodcuts based on historic Edmonds photographs from the Edmonds Historical Museum archives.

“The new emergency center allows us to provide the community with a wide array of services that reflect the needs of today,” said Dr. Robert Rutherford, head of emergency services. “So much has changed since the 1980’s. The services people expect from emergency rooms have grown far beyond the traditional wounds, heart attacks and other urgent health crises. People come to emergency rooms now with the full range of illnesses and infections, mental and behavioral conditions. In addition, for many patients the emergency room has become the first place they go. This new facility positions us to meet these expanded expectations of emergency and urgent care.”

With 28 examining rooms and 13 additional treatment stations, the new facility is also ready to handle the challenge of treating the growth in emergency room cases.

“The old facility, designed to handle 25,000 cases per year, was strained to meet an annual demand that has grown to 40,000,” said Mary Beth Lowell, Communications Director for Swedish Edmonds. “The new emergency center will meet that and more. We’ve actually designed future growth into the new center, with an additional 30,000 square feet on the upper floor that can be developed as future demands unfold.”

“We’re all very proud of the new facility,” said Graves. “It’s the result of lots of hard work by lots of people, and the high levels of dedication and creativity really shine through. Edmonds now has a world-class emergency and urgent care center right in its backyard, embodied in a package that captures the spirit of our community.”

— Story and photos by Larry Vogel