The month of May marks the one-year anniversary of the affiliation between Enumclaw Regional Hospital and Franciscan Health System and several important milestones have already been reached, including plans for building a new hospital.

“Over the years, both Enumclaw hospital and Franciscan have established high standards of performance and quality care in the communities we serve,” said Dennis Popp, chief operating officer at Enumclaw Regional Hospital.

“By combining resources, we are living up to our slogan ‘Better Together.' Throughout the past year, leaders from both organizations have worked to integrate our systems, technologies and staff,” he added. “And, of course, we have made great strides toward building the new hospital.”

The following represents just a few of the achievements within the past 12 months:

€ Franciscan's self-pay discount and charity care policies have been extended to Enumclaw Regional Hospital (ERH) patients.

€ Dr. Tina Gupta has joined ERH as a hospitalist and member of the Franciscan Inpatient Team to provide care for hospitalized patients.

€ ERH is a participant in the Franciscan quality program, whose components include improving patient care and patient satisfaction.

€ ERH medical staff members have been added to Franciscan's online and toll-free physician referral service.

€ The architect and general contractor for the replacement hospital have been chosen; construction will begin this fall.

“Looking ahead, we are excited about the prospect of breaking ground on the new hospital by September 2008 and opening the state-of-the-art facility in 2010,” said Joe Wilczek, president and chief executive officer of the Franciscan organization.

The new Enumclaw Regional Hospital, which at 90,000 square feet will be about twice the size of the existing hospital, will be built on the north side of Battersby Avenue, across from the current facility.

As a member of the Tacoma-based Franciscan organization, Enumclaw Regional Hospital is part of a South Sound health system that includes hospitals in Tacoma, Federal Way and Lakewood, and primary-care and specialty-care medical clinics at nearly 50 sites in King, Pierce and Kitsap counties. Enumclaw Medical Center is part of the Franciscan Medical Group network of clinics.