Major construction is under way simultaneously this summer at two locations on MultiCare Health System’s Central Tacoma campus to update facilities for the care of women, newborns and children.
The health system is adding on to both its Tacoma General Hospital and Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital to create a new neonatal intensive care unit, an updated family birth center and an improved pediatric intensive care ward.
The new facilities will upgrade facilities that are more than 2 decades old, said the health system.
The neonatal intensive care unit was last remodeled in 1987. The pediatric intensive care facility was updated in 1991 and 1992.
The labor and delivery area was last expanded in 1992.
“We are committed to developing and improving services for women and children,” said Kathy Smith, senior vice president of clinical operations. “In talking with patients, providers, and employees, it became clear that we could not achieve this vision in our current facilities. These areas have not been updated for more than two decades.”
The construction project is using a towering crane to place structural steel on Martin Luther King Jr. Way side of the hospital complex where two stories are being added to the Milgard Pavilion. The pavilion was built in 2010 to house the emergency departments of both hospitals and the MultiCare Regional Cancer Center. Those two stories will up the complex’s floor area by some 60,000 square feet. They will contain the pediatric intensive care unit. The construction work along the hospital’s east side will update and expand the hospital’s Rainier Pavilion near Wright Park.
The new facilities, said the health system, will house new birthing and neonatal intensive care units. The neonatal unit will consist of private rooms in the new facility instead of the large single room now used for infant care. That addition will include 114,000 square feet of space. The additional room will improve infection control and create more space for families and staff members and allow the addition of new technology to the hospital, MultiCare said.
Sellen Construction Co. of Seattle is the contractor. HDR Inc. is the architect. The project is due for completion in 2015.
john.gillie@thenewstribune.com253-597-8663
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