Samaritan plans construction work, will expand Patton Clinic

MOSES LAKE — Halme Construction Inc., of Davenport, has been awarded a $1.6 million contract to expand the Samaritan Healthcare clinic near Patton Boulevard.

Samaritan commissioners approved the contract at their regular meeting May 25.

The project is estimated to cost $2.8 million, including design, new equipment purchases, management services and sales tax.

Joe Kunkel, a consultant working with the hospital district on multiple construction projects, said the bids for the Patton Clinic expansion came in lower than expected.

Kunkel said the company is ready to start construction by mid-June. The project is scheduled for completion by January 2022.

The clinic will be expanded to fill the entire building. Currently, it occupies about one-third of the space with an urgent care clinic and family medicine practices.

The expansion will add an occupational medicine clinic to the facility, and family medicine will be enlarged. The urgent care clinic will be moved to the center of the building. The new design adds more capacity for the family medicine practice, and it will allow access from one end of the building to the other.

Kunkel said the expansion will include upgrades to the heating-cooling system and computer networks.

Commissioners also approved a contract of about $172,000 for L&M Construction, of Moses Lake, to remodel a portion of the cardiology center at Samaritan Hospital. Kunkel said the project only attracted one bid, which also was lower than the estimate.

The remodeling will convert the former cardiac rehabilitation unit into an area to administer tests for cardiac patients, Kunkel said. The remodeling will allow more privacy for patients.

Currently, people have to go out of town for some of those tests, Kunkel said, and the remodeled space will allow Samaritan to provide additional services.

Kunkel said construction is scheduled to start in mid-June and should be completed in about six weeks. The facility will be open for patients by early August.

Samaritan will still offer cardiac rehabilitation services. Samaritan Chief Executive Officer Theresa Sullivan said cardiac rehab needed more room, so the program moved to another building on the hospital property.