BREMERTON – During an Aug. 11 panel discussion on how to reduce health care costs, David Schultz, market president for the CHI Franciscan Health peninsula region, spoke a little bit about what Harrison Medical Center’s Bremerton campus might look like when the hospital eventually shifts focus to its Silverdale campus.
When asked what impact Harrison’s Silverdale campus would have on traffic, Schultz, dryly, joked that there would be “no impact whatsoever.”
“We are going to have anywhere from 1,500-2,000 employees on a daily basis move from Bremerton to the Silverdale facility which is a huge impact both in Silverdale and in Bremerton,” Schultz said.
The hospital serves 13,500 inpatient visits annually.
“Almost 14,000 admissions every year [and] close to 200,000 outpatient visits that currently occur in both Bremerton and Silverdale are primarily going to be focused in Silverdale. So there is absolutely going to be a heavy flow in Silverdale,” he said.
Part of the solution is to work with the county to improve roads, and if the Kitsap Transit bus transfer station is built next to the hospital that will help with the amount of traffic as well.
“Traffic is already bad … it’s not a Harrison Medical Center problem. We’re not going to help it, mind you, in total, just because of the volume that we’re going to increase in the community. But the bottom line is it’s already an issue.”
Schultz said the county needs to step up and “own” the traffic problem. Harrison plans to add a four-way stop at the entrance and have a dedicated ambulance entrance. As much Harrison traffic as possible will be directed away from Ridgetop.
“We’re also adding an eastbound lane to Ridgetop Boulevard so that you can get to and from Mhyre up to Highway 303 in a much simpler basis,” Schultz said.
“One of the reasons that we’re moving to Silverdale is the fact that only 14 percent of our inpatients actually originate from Bremerton. Only 14 percent. So of those 13,500 inpatient admissions that we have on an annual basis only 14 percent of those either come from east or central Bremerton. So 86 percent are already coming from outside the community,” Schultz said.
“We’re really going to focus on the development of an ambulatory center in Bremerton so we’re not abandoning it. I’ve heard that term used. I’m really sensitive to that term. I almost don’t want to repeat it, but I’ve heard it enough to say we’re not abandoning Bremerton. We’re going to have an ambulatory facility that focuses on primary care [and] urgent care. We’re going to have an imaging lab; we’re going to have the ability to have specialists – like Dr. Berni – rotate into the clinic. So we’re still going to have a significant presence in Bremerton. It’s just not going to be your acute inpatient beds.”
• Peninsula Community Health Services to remain focused on Bremerton
Dr. Jenifer Kreidler-Moss, CEO for Peninsula Community Health Services, said her business would continue to focus on Bremerton.
Kreidler-Moss said that two of their four medical clinics are in the downtown Bremerton area, where higher levels of poverty still are concentrated.
Kreidler-Moss didn’t foresee PCHS leaving the downtown corridor.
“That’s where we are. That’s who we are. And that’s the basis of the underserved model of federally qualified health centers: we’re supposed to be where people have access-to-care issues.”
“On the flip side, Bremerton has revitalized incredibly in the last two years. And who knows where the greatest need will end up five years from now. It might not be Bremerton.”
