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KVH Medical Arts Center – Call for artists

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Kittitas Valley Healthcare seeks to commission artists or artist teams to design artwork for its new Medical Arts Center (MAC) at 100 E Jackson Ave in Ellensburg. The Medical Arts Center will be home to KVH Family Medicine – Ellensburg, KVH Women’s Health, and KVH Pediatrics, as well as other healthcare partners and collaborators.

For centuries, art has played a powerful role in the healing process. Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, knew about the healing power of images and proclaimed: “Variety of form and brilliancy of color in the object presented to patients are an actual means of recovery.” It is our belief that if art can enhance someone’s mood or take their mind off their pain for a short while, it is no longer just a decoration. It’s part of the entire model of care.

Contact us for more details on how to be involved in this exciting project for our community.

KVH Medical Arts Center remodel to improve healthcare access

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Kittitas Valley Healthcare will partner with VK Powell for the remodel of its medical arts center, which was acquired by the public hospital district in late 2017 as an impactful step in the district’s goal to improve access to healthcare for patients and visitors to Kittitas County. The contractor was accepted as low bidder at last night’s regular meeting of the KVH Board of Commissioners.

“We’re excited to see the strategic plan take shape in such a meaningful way,” says Commissioner Liahna Armstrong. “Our early focus on patient and community needs quickly uncovered a need for increased access, and for engaging the community. In fact, these two needs became strategic goals for the organization.”

The new facility plan is about much more than bricks and mortar; it focuses on improving care processes, as well as identifying new space for patient services. “Recent provider recruitment has been so successful that we do not have adequate space for incoming providers,” said KVH CEO Julie Petersen. “We have reached the point where our facilities are the limiting factor in being able to care for our community.”

Rather than continue with previous plans to build and expand facilities on the main KVH campus, the Board opted to integrate care services by using and improving existing locations in the community, taking a neighborhood approach rather than concentrating services in a single location. In addition to reducing construction costs, this decision allows KVH to increase collaboration, and to partner with services that might otherwise be seen as competitors, in the spirit of providing as much quality patient care to the community as possible.

KVH began the process of expanding and relocating services to the Medical Arts Center in the fall of 2018 when KVH Women’s Health moved into a temporary location on the first floor. The action taken at yesterday’s meeting will allow for construction to begin on the unoccupied remainder of the building.

When completed in early 2020, the Center will be home to KVH Family Medicine – Ellensburg, KVH Pediatrics and KVH Women’s Health, joining fellow tenants VM Memorial / North Star, Orthopedics Northwest and Canyon View Physical Therapy, who will continue to occupy space in the three-story building.

The KVH Medical Arts Center is located at 100 E. Jackson Avenue. View a video rendering of the future KVH Family Medicine – Ellensburg clinic at http://tinyurl.com/NewFME.

KVH Speech Therapy & Occupational Therapy to Showcase New Facility

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KVH Speech Therapy and KVH Occupational Therapy invite the public to tour their new facility at 309 E. Mountain View Ave. on Tuesday, May 7 from 4-6 p.m.

Moving from their previous 2nd Street location to Mountain View Ave. allows our therapy teams to expand and upgrade the services offered to the community.  New features include pediatric gyms, a sensory room, and a lymphedema treatment room. The new facility also includes several offices for speech therapy, children’s therapy, and women’s pelvic health.

KVH speech therapists provide individualized treatment to enhance the communication, oral motor skills, swallowing, and feeding skills of adult and pediatric patients. KVH occupational therapists work with people of all ages who, because of physical, developmental, social or emotional problems, need specialized assistance to lead independent and productive lives. Occupational therapy helps people maximize their abilities and provides skills for everyday living.

The Open House will provide an opportunity for the public to tour the new facility, see some of the services first hand and to meet the dedicated professionals working in this program. Light refreshments will be provided.

KVH Urgent Care moves to new location

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KVH Urgent Care – Cle Elum is moving to their new location on Monday, January 8, 2018.  In order to provide uninterrupted coverage for our patients services will cease at their current location at 201 Alpha Way in Cle Elum at 10:00 p.m. on January 7 and will resume at 10:00 a.m. on January 8 at 214 W. 1st Street in downtown Cle Elum.

The Urgent Care clinic’s new location is in the building that previously held Swedish Cle Elum Primary Care.  The building on 1st Street will provide a location that is better suited for an urgent care facility.  The move is part of an agreement between Kittitas County Public Hospital District No. 2, Kittitas Valley Healthcare, and Swedish Health Services that will allow for greater collaboration between upper county medical resources and an expansion of services to the community.

The move will allow Swedish Health Services to relocate to the Alpha Way clinic, where it will operate adjacent to KVH Family Medicine – Cle Elum. The Alpha Way building is owned by Hospital District 2 and leased by Kittitas Valley Healthcare.

Swedish is preparing the site to host both on-site and telehealth services in the spring of 2018, while also evaluating area needs, and availability of Swedish and other specialty care providers.  We expect the Swedish presence at the site to evolve over the coming months and years.

KVH Urgent Care – Cle Elum will maintain its current daily hours of 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and increase staffing levels to handle non-emergent items such as earaches, fevers, minor allergic reactions, and simple fractures.  In cases of emergency, the public should call 911.

The public is invited to tour the new facility and meet the staff during an open house at the new location on Friday, February 2 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

For more information about KVH Urgent Care – Cle Elum, call (509) 674-6944.

New Facility Plan Emerges from 2018-2020 Strategic Plan

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Recent strategic planning and two recent property purchases have KVH adjusting its 2016 master site facilities plan.  In mid-2017, KVH purchased the 22,000 square foot former Royal Vista skilled nursing facility. More recently, the public hospital district acquired the 36,000 square foot three-story building near Super 1 and Rite Aid.

The KVH Board of Commissioners devoted much of 2017 to developing a new strategic plan for the hospital district.  Access to care and community engagement surfaced as key strategic initiatives and the emerging facility plan flowed naturally from that focus on patient and community needs. 

The new facility plan is about much more than bricks and mortar; it focuses on improving care processes, consolidating the electronic health record as well as identifying new space for patient services.  With these purchases, KVH is able to take advantage of existing community property and to expand more quickly than building new.  “Access to care cannot wait for a new building,” said KVH CEO Julie Petersen.  It will ultimately provide more square footage at a fraction of the cost estimated for previous plans.

“Recent provider recruitment has been so successful that we do not have adequate space for our incoming providers,” said Petersen.  “We have reached the point where our facilities are the limiting factor in being able to care for our community.”

Occupation and expansion into the newly acquired facilities will be staggered as space becomes ready for use, and after KVH implements a new integrated electronic health record that will better consolidate patient health information.

The former Royal Vista facility, now called the KVH Radio Hill Annex, was purchased in mid-2017. This property is located in a residential neighborhood and is most appropriate for low-traffic support services. On November 30, KVH received approval from the City of Ellensburg to begin relocating services to the facility. Home health, hospice, patient billing, and other support functions that are currently located in the KVH 309 Annex at 309 E Mountain View Avenue will be the first to move to the Radio Hill Annex. KVH hopes to invite community partners to consider co-locating at the Radio Hill Annex to create a community health resource center. This would include some external partners such as Hospice Friends. 

Vacating the 309 Annex will free up space that is ready to accommodate higher-traffic professional services.  This is an ideal location for clinical services.

The acquisition of the three-story building near Super 1 and Rite Aid was finalized on December 11.  This building will be known as the KVH Medical Arts Center.  Currently, the building is almost completely occupied so no immediate changes are anticipated.  In the future, KVH will move some of its existing and emerging clinical services into the building, in addition to the current provider tenants.  The Board believes that practicing in such close proximity to other area healthcare providers will foster collaboration and ultimately benefit the patients.

This is in line with the vision that Dr. Byron Haney had when he began construction of the building in 2007.  “Our purpose was to retain and expand in town medical specialty care, expand Family Health Care of Ellensburg, offer KVH or DSHS services in a consolidated location and leave room for future healthcare growth. This summer KVH approached me with a desire to acquire this building for their needed expansion. Knowing our initial vision for this community had been realized, we granted KVH their request. We trust this building will bless this community for years to come.” said Dr. Byron Haney, founding physician of Family Health Care of Ellensburg.”

Though decisions have not been made about which services will be moved to the locations suitable for high-traffic professional services, the facilities planning work completed in 2016 will largely be translated to these new locations.

KVH Urgent Care – Cle Elum to Expand Hours

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Beginning Sunday, January 8, KVH Urgent Care – Cle Elum will expand to 12 hours of daily operation, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Over the past several years the urgent care has been open for eight hours on weekdays and 15 hours on weekends, for a total of 70 hours per week.  The new schedule will provide 84 hours of coverage per week. 

The decision to change the hours comes after a thorough analysis of patient volumes.  Data show that patients tend to arrive most frequently in the afternoon, with visits tapering off in the evening hours.

“By opening earlier in the day, we hope that urgent care will be more convenient for our community,” said Rhonda Holden, Chief Ancillary Officer for KVH. “We also believe that holding the same hours daily will provide more consistency and be easier to remember.”

Another factor in the decision to change the hours was the ability to adequately staff the urgent care center. It is easier to staff a healthcare facility that runs on consistent 12-hour shifts than a facility that has varying hours of operation with different shift lengths. Most providers at KVH Urgent Care – Cle Elum also work several 12-hour shifts per month at the KVH Hospital Emergency Department in Ellensburg. 

Visits to urgent care are not scheduled.  Patients can walk in during open hours to be seen for a variety of non-life threatening conditions, including fever, earache, cold or flu symptoms, minor allergic reactions or asthma attacks, rashes, strains, sprains, and simple wounds or fractures.

KVH Urgent Care – Cle Elum is located at 201 Alpha Way in Cle Elum, near Safeway and McDonald’s.

Many of these conditions can also generally be treated using KVH Virtual Care, which is available 24/7 for a flat fee of $40 at www.kvhealthcare.org or 855-962-1KVH.

Applicants Sought for Kittitas County Public Hospital District No. 1 Board of Commissioners

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The Board of Commissioners for Kittitas County Public Hospital District No. 1 is seeking applicants for a vacant position.

Kittitas County Public Hospital District No. 1 is the governing body for Kittitas Valley Healthcare, which provides service to Kittitas County through its hospital facility in Ellensburg and outpatient clinics and specialty services in Ellensburg and Cle Elum.

Interested persons should submit a letter of interest, including relevant background information, by January 31.  Interviews will be conducted in February, prior to the February 26 meeting of the Board.

The individual who is appointed will hold the position through December 31, 2015. The position will be on the ballot in the November 2015 general election. The elected commissioner will serve the remainder of the term for the position, through December 2019.

Applicants must be registered voters residing in Kittitas County Public Hospital District No. 1. 

Letters of interest should be sent electronically to fstorlie@kvhealthcare.org or by hard copy to the Board of Commissioners, Attn: Franki Storlie, Executive Coordinator, Kittitas Valley Healthcare, 603 S. Chestnut St., Ellensburg, WA 98926.  For additional information, please contact Franki Storlie at (509) 962-7302.