Planning a healthy move underway at Samaritan

MOSES LAKE — Finishing work is still underway, but there’s plenty of activity at the new Samaritan Hospital on Clover Drive. Patients will start being treated at the new facility at 7 a.m. March 7. Joe Kunkel, the consultant who’s been working with hospital officials on the project since its inception in 2018, said the timing is crucial. 

“That’s the switchover time,” Kunkel said. 

The old Samaritan Hospital on Wheeler Road closes forever 1 as Samaritan Hospital, at least — at 6:59 a.m. The new Samaritan Hospital opens at 7 a.m. at the intersection of Clover Drive and Yonezawa Boulevard. There cannot be any interruption in medical services between the old hospital and the new, even though everything is moving halfway across town. If there’s a wreck at 3 a.m., or a mom-to-be arrives in labor at 5 a.m., well, hospital officials and staff just have to deal with. 

This is Kunkel’s 12th new hospital opening, he said, including the new Quincy Valley Medical Center in May 2025. Moving day at every hospital has some things in common, but each one is different. 

“Part of it is the same. And the same part is, ‘Hey, we want to get (employees) familiar with the building. We want to get you familiar with your workflows and what you would normally see on any given day and do simulated patients that represent that to get people comfortable with the layout and the flow,” Kunkel said. “What's different with Samaritan is, Samaritan's looking at this as a milestone from the standpoint, ‘Hey, you do this once in a generation. Now's the time for us to really think about our culture.’” 

Construction was scheduled to begin in 2020, and construction bid documents were under preparation in March 2020. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic upset that timetable, and inflation during the delay substantially raised the price. Hospital officials originally thought the hospital could be built without asking district voters for a construction bond, but the delays and cost increases prompted them to ask for a $130 million bond in April 2023. Gretchen Youngren, chief development and communications officer, said Samaritan officials want to do what they can to ensure voters get their money’s worth. 

“The bond that was passed in April 2023 was significant. But this is the first major voted project in our community where the organization that's building has invested capital in dollars, the foundation that supports that organization has given money towards it. For the voters, we are delivering exactly what we told them we were going to build. We are delivering on that promise of advancing regional care,” Youngren said. “When we asked our internal teams, our professionals, how do we say thank you, the best way to say thank you is to deliver that care with exceptional service.” 

Samaritan operates two clinics in addition to the hospital, and part of delivering good service, Youngren said, was to make sure all employees were familiar with the new facility, wherever they work. She estimated that about 900 employees are getting training to familiarize themselves with the new facility.  

Shifting the operation of a facility that can’t close even on Moving Day is a lot of work and takes a lot of planning. Hospital employees are in the middle of five weeks of training in the new facility. Samaritan’s operating license allows it to accommodate up to 50 patients, and some of its patients are going to be pretty sick. 

“Patients with higher acuity,” Kunkel said. “So it really takes planning. How are you gearing up? (Which patients) go first, and who goes second? And partnering with three different EMS providers.” 

The final call will be up to the medical professionals. 

“The thing I always drive home is that in the end, it's the physician, or the provider, who has eyes on the patient, who is with that patient, who makes that determination,” Kunkel said.  “The safety of the patient is number one.” 

Part of getting from one building to another two miles away is practicing. 

“We’re doing a tabletop exercise where we have the floor plans of the old building and the new building with puzzle pieces on it that represent the patients and equipment and staff. Then we'll say, ‘OK, it's now seven o'clock. What's the order? Who's going first, and where, how do they travel?’ And then it'll be ‘Okay, now let's move the clock up to 7:10 (a.m.) Where is everybody?’” Kunkel said. “Then at the end of the month, before we go live, we're going to do it over there in real form, push the gurneys onto the elevators and time those things and all that.”  

Some departments are already making the move, starting Monday. Some elective services will be unavailable for a few days while those departments move operations. Kunkel cited induced births as an example. Since those are scheduled, they won’t be scheduled for two to three days prior to the move.  

Because the hospital is moving to an entirely new location, the signs that direct people to the facility will have to be changed. Kunkel said he’s working with Moses Lake city officials to take down the old directional signs. The new emergency room sign is already installed, ready to be uncovered March 7, just as the ER sign at the old hospital comes down. 

“A lot of parts and pieces,” Kunkel said. And because of that, it's a lot of coordination with a lot of different people. I mean, there's a ton of people working with eyes on this thing.” 

Getting a look at the new Samaritan Hospital 

Donor dedication & Ribbon cutting
Tuesday, Feb. 24
4 to 7 p.m.
In conjunction with the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours 

Community open house
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 28 

Advance registration requested for building tours 

    Opening a new hospital involves a lot of planning and paperwork.