MultiCare to expand Allenmore’s infusion clinic after renovation and move

Construction that started in November will lead to an expansion of MultiCare Allenmore Hospital’s infusion clinic.

The Allenmore Ambulatory Infusion Service clinic in Tacoma, now in Allenmore’s A building, will be moved across the Allenmore campus to the C building. Its current eight beds will expand to 14, said MultiCare spokeswoman Marce Edwards in an email.

The change is necessary as the hospital plans next year to demolish the A building on the western end of its South 19th Street and Union Avenue campus.

The A building will make way for a 120-bed psychiatric hospital funded by MultiCare Health System, CHI Franciscan Health and public money.

Infusion therapy treats people who have a variety of conditions, including multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and anemia, Edwards said. It involves delivering medicine directly into the veins of a patient.

The infusion clinic will move to an area of the C building that formerly housed the CT scan and magnetic resonance imaging services, Edwards said.

Other areas of the campus have MRI and CT scan capabilities, and an additional CT machine has been added at Allenmore Hospital to handle the demand, Edwards said. Other imaging services, including diagnostic X-ray, will remain in the C building.

This story was originally published December 6, 2016 at 2:58 PM with the headline "MultiCare to expand Allenmore’s infusion clinic after renovation and move."