Construction is underway on the campus of Summit Pacific Medical Center in Elma which will nearly double the hospital’s capacity in a little more than two years’ time.

Hospital executives and staff, local elected officials, state leaders, project contractors and others who helped the expansion reach fruition gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony underneath a white tent on the hospital’s helipad, where, in 26 months, an expanded wing of the emergency department will stretch toward Main Street.

“Thanks to the fierce dedication and perseverance from many of you, we are moving forward with an expansion that will enhance the quality of care we provide and create essential access to life-saving services in our region,” Summit Pacific CEO Josh Martin told the crowd Wednesday morning.

According to a recent press release, the construction project will add 30,000 square feet to the current 40,000-square-foot hospital, doubling the facility’s acute care bed capacity from 10 to 20, with the option to increase to 25. The project will also provide five additional observation beds, around-the-clock MRI services and increase emergency department spaces from 10 to 16.

Crews will renovate an additional 6,400 square feet of space in existing facilities.

Curt Gimmestad, who is leading the construction project with Absher Construction, a contractor out of Puyallup, said crews began work Jan. 4, starting with a small renovation to the emergency department and the construction of an alternative ambulance bay that will allow access during construction. Martin said the work will have a “limited impact to patients” in the emergency room during the entire length of the project.

Before crews complete the final, larger renovation to the emergency department, Gimmestad said, work will begin on the hospital expansion. Because of the soft soils of the river valley, Gimmestad said, the new building will require large concrete piles in the dirt to support the foundation.

With its old helipad in the construction zone, helicopters carrying critically injured patients will land at a temporary pad at Abundance Life Church, about one-quarter of a mile from the emergency room. In January, Summit Pacific used a parking lot at the Grays Harbor County Fairgrounds as a temporary landing pad.

Helicopters will land on the roof of the hospital once the expansion project is complete.

The $60 million project will be funded entirely through the sale of revenue bonds. Commissioners of the Grays Harbor Public Hospital District #1 signed the $75 million sale in November. Over the course of the next 30 years, the hospital will use revenue from the expansion project to pay back the bonds, plus $114 million of interest at an average rate of 6.8%, which will amount to $189 million by the year 2053.

Martin thanked Summit Pacific’s financial consultants who helped navigate the revenue bond deal. Martin called the hospital district’s ability to fund the expansion without seeking taxpayer support “a big win for a community faced with poverty, unemployment, prevailing disease. It’s a big win to celebrate today.”

Summit Pacific originally planned to finance the expansion with a rural communities loan from the United States Department of Agriculture, the same source that funded the original hospital construction and wellness center addition. Summit officials were forced to switch that strategy in April after the agency said the hospital’s finances were too favorable to qualify for another loan.

Helen Price-Johnson, the USDA director for Washington state, said at Wednesday’s groundbreaking the agency has had a strong relationship with Summit Pacific, providing about $28 million in funding since 2010 and supporting the hospital as it transitioned to pursuit of revenue bonds.

“Summit Pacific is a vital asset in this community, and actually a leader in Washington state, providing leadership for many other rural hospitals that are struggling, and helping us to do a better job in servicing those hospitals,” Price Johnson said.

Martin said Summit Pacific began planning the expansion five years ago, before the onset of the pandemic. COVID compounded the stress on the emergency departments, a trend expected to continue — the hospital district expects a 24% increase in its aged population over the next seven years, according to a recent press release.

Martin concluded the ceremony by giving “solace and remembrance for the lives that were lost during the COVID epidemic, but excitement and joy and hope for the lives that we’ll save” in the future.

Dr. Mimi Syed, who led Summit through the pandemic as the director of acute care services, said the emergency department has always struggled with space in the past, and during the pandemic, “experienced a devastating lack of resources just like other hospitals in our area,” but the expansion will provide for more efficient services.

“I have been with Summit for seven years, and it has been amazing to see its growth and transformation,” Syed said.

Elma Mayor Josh Collette also noted that growth, crediting Summit officials for “putting vision to action, to see how this plot has evolved from a patch of woods and field into what it’s become 13 years later”

“This campus here brings hope for this community,” he said. “I’ve had several conversations with Josh (Martin) just dreaming aloud of what Elma could be. This campus is a small representation of what Elma could be.”

Contact reporter Clayton Franke at 406-552-3917 or clayton.franke@thedailyworld.com.

Construction work began Jan. 4 at the Summit Pacific Medical Center in Elma, where crews are first building an alternative ambulance bay that will provide emergency department access during the 26-month construction period. (Clayton Franke / The Daily World)

Dr. Mimi Syed, senior medical director of Summit Pacific’s acute care services, speaks at the hospital’s expansion groundbreaking ceremony in Elma on Wednesday, Jan. 31. (Clayton Franke / The Daily World)