South Sound health care projects expand facilities

This collection of articles discusses the expansion of health care facilities and programs impacting the South Sound.

The Street Medicine Pilot Program aims to deliver preventative care to Tacoma's homeless, using a mobile unit. However, staffing shortages and logistical issues have delayed the program's start. Meanwhile, Pierce County is introducing a $1.6 million mobile outreach program targeting substance abuse. This program leverages federal funding to extend outreach to residents and provide harm-reduction services.

MultiCare has two major capital projects in the works in Pierce County. The health care system is building a new Mary Bridge Children's Hospital for $480 million, and it has plans to build a new patient tower at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup for $430 million.

The construction of a 105-bed psychiatric hospital at 19th & Proctor streets in Tacoma, Washington, has allegedly stalled due to financing issues. The site is shown on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. By Tony Overman

NO. 1: WILL CONTROVERSIAL PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL EVER MOVE FORWARD IN TACOMA? IT’S A GOOD QUESTION

Sheriff’s sale to collect on debt was canceled this summer. | Published September 13, 2024 | Read Full Story by dcockrell@thenewstribune.comDebbie Cockrell

Tacoma is poised to get new behavioral health sites. Public comments were due at the close of business Sept. 17, 2024, on a variance application related to extended-care housing at 3701 Pacific Ave.

NO. 2: THIS TACOMA BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE CAMPUS IS ONE STEP CLOSER TO OPENING ITS DOORS

The public had until Sept. 17 to comment on a proposal for an extended-care facility coming to Pacific Avenue. | Published September 19, 2024 | Read Full Story by Simone Carter

A homeless encampment partially blocks the sidewalk along 96th Street east of Hosmer Street in Tacoma, Washington, on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2024. By Tony Overman

NO. 3: ‘HELPING THEM WHERE THEY ARE.’ MOBILE TEAM SOON TO BRING HEALTHCARE TO TACOMA’S HOMELESS

Washington State Health Care Authority awards $1 million to Tacoma - making it one of five jurisdictions to introduce a Street Medicine Team. | Published October 24, 2024 | Read Full Story by Cameron Sheppard

A new study will look at three back-pain treatments without relying on medication. By Liz O. Baylen

NO. 4: OPIOID ADDICTION REMAINS HIGH IN PIERCE COUNTY. WILL A NEW $1.6M MOBILE PROGRAM HELP?

“Any services that we do that help prevent people from having a crisis will be a benefit to our community,” a county official said. | Published November 27, 2024 | Read Full Story by Becca Most

Guests of a tour look at large imaging devices that are part of a new hybrid operating room that was open for viewing on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, Wash. The new operating room cost roughly $6m to build and will open to patients in early March. By Pete Caster

NO. 5: NEW HYBRID OPERATING ROOM GIVES THIS PIERCE COUNTY HOSPITAL MORE OPTIONS FOR CARDIAC CARE

The new unit will support minimally invasive procedures and is on track to start seeing patients next month. | Published February 21, 2025 | Read Full Story by Debbie Cockrell

St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma is among sites in the VMFH network set to gain more services from a new strategic affiliation with Seattle Children’s.

NO. 6: HEALTH CARE FOR MOTHERS, KIDS EXPANDING IN SOUTH SOUND WITH ENHANCED PARTNERSHIP

Virginia Mason Franciscan Health and Seattle Children’s hope new ties will add more services without requiring patients to make the trip to Seattle. | Published April 29, 2025 | Read Full Story by Debbie Cockrell

NO. 7: IT’S SUPPOSED TO BRING MEDICAL CARE TO THE HOMELESS. WHY ISN’T IT OPERATIONAL?

At least one advocate worries about the direction the $1 million program is headed. | Published May 7, 2025 | Read Full Story by Cameron Sheppard

MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, Wash., on Monday, March 16, 2020. A Puyallup woman in her 50s who was a patient at Good Samaritan was the first person in Piece County to die from complications due to COVID-19. By Joshua Bessex

NO. 8: WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH MULTICARE’S $430M PATIENT TOWER PROJECT IN PUYALLUP?

The Pierce County hospital has one of the busiest emergency departments per capita in the United States. | Published June 9, 2025 | Read Full Story by Isabela Lund

Mount Rainier peaks out of the current Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital as seen from inside the new children’s hospital on Monday, June 16, 2025, in Tacoma, Wash. By Brian Hayes

NO. 9: NEW $480M MARY BRIDGE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL WILL HAVE PLAY AREA, ‘KITTEN’ SCANNER

Dedicated family spaces, playroom and state-of-the-art operating rooms just some of the new features set to debut at new Tacoma facility next year. | Published June 18, 2025 | Read Full Story by Debbie Cockrell

The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.