Harborview Medical Center

For the health of our community

A New Harborview Stands Tall

Today, Harborview Medical Center is twice the size it was just four years ago.

The vast increase in size is a result of the largest expansion in the 120-year history of this King County public health facility. Two new wings that include more than 440,000 square feet have been added to Harborview to create a state-of-the-art medical center that combines the most advanced medical technologies with the quality care that the facility is so well known for.

Expansion was made possible by the voters of King County who approved bond monies for a new trauma and emergency center in 1987.

Design and construction of the $176 million project was overseen by the King County Executive and Council. A King County design team worked with Harborview board members, physicians, nurses and administrators in more than 85 Harborview departments to produce a medical center that would meet health care needs of the 21st century.

Ready for the 21st Century

As the project reaches completion, King County residents have gained much more than a state-of-the-art trauma and emergency center. A competitive bid market, interest earned on bond monies and capital reserves allowed King County to build additional clinic space and incorporate rapidly emerging technologies into the ongoing Harborview expansion.

New Clinics for Everyone in King County

Harborview's new five-story West Clinic Wing provides outpatient primary and speciality care to women, infants, children, adults, seniors, those with infectious diseases and other health care needs.

In addition to providing the most advanced emergency and trauma care available, Harborview is also the only medical center in the county that provides services to anyone in need regardless of ability to pay.

In the past decade, our region's growing population has placed increasing demands on Harborview's ability to provide care for everyone in need. Today, soon after opening its new doors, activity at Harborview is bustling in the more than one million square feet it now occupies.

A Thank You from Ron Sims

Ron Sims, King County executive, is not a new name at Harborview Medical Center.

Sims, a leader in promoting public bonds to expand Harborview, has championed the facility and its services for decades.

As King County councilmember from 1986 to 1996, Sims oversaw design and construction of the Harborview expansion, reviewing plans and funding to make sure the intent of the voter-approved initiative was met.

Ron Sims was first introduced to the importance of Harborview when he served as a volunteer chaplain in the early 1970s.

"Today, we are so very proud of King County's efforts to continue the tradition to make this medical center a public facility that benefits everyone in our region and beyond," said Sims. "Harborview is a success story that is part of each of us."

"I would like to thank not only the voters of King County for this wonderful new facility, but also our neighbors close to Harborview and the hospital's staff, for their patience and help each step of the way to make this one of the finest public medical centers in the country."

Expansion Meets Growing Needs of King County

Added Outpatient Clinics for All

Whether it's a sprained ankle, sore throat or more serious ailment, Harborview Medical Center's outpatient clinics are busier than ever serving patients from all parts of King County. Today, Harborview has more than 50 outpatient clinics providing primary and specialty health care for all members of the family and our community.

King County's expansion has allowed Harborview to increase its ability to serve our growing population and its diverse needs for health care. Additional funds from Harborview reserves were added to the project to enhance the new facilities.

Eighteen outpatient clinics are located in the newly completed West Clinic Wing overlooking downtown Seattle and Elliott Bay. With more than 100,000 new square feet, clinics are designed with the most advanced medical equipment and technology.

University of Washington Physicians provide outpatient care to patients at Harborview. Clinic doctors are faculty members of UW School of Medicine, one of the country's top-ranked medical schools.

Clinic specialists see everyone from infants to seniors and provide the quality, compassionate care that Harborview is so well known for. Speciality clinics serve allergy, diabetes, epilepsy, neurological, dental, occupational injuries as well as many more individual needs.

Because of the patient diversity at Harborview, staff members are carefully trained to provide culturally sensitive care. Together staff and interpreters speak English, Spanish, Cambodian, Thai, Laotian, Tagalog as well as many other languages and dialects.

Harborview Medical Center accepts all forms of health insurance and provides care to everyone in need regardless of resources or ability to pay.

Caring for Every Medical Emergency

Thanks to the voters of King County, Harborview stands ready – more ready than ever before to treat any medical emergency that comes throught its doors.

Harborview has long had the reputation and responsibility for caring for victims of our worst accidents and those with life-threatening injuries and illnesses. For decades, the most skilled emergency teams have stood ready to serve, 24 hours a day.

But today, these committed doctors, nurses and specialists are operating in a new, state-of-the-art facility surrounded by the most advanced medical equipment and technology.

Expansion of Harborview – King County's only public health medical center and Level 1 trauma center in the region – allows the top-flight UW medical staff to continue to provide the people of King County with the best emergency services available.

The newly completed facility stands out as one of the most advanced publicly owned medical centers in the country.

By the late 1980s, Harborview's former emergency room, designed to treat just 80 patients, was seeing 140 people daily. Today, the Emergency Department (ED), enhanced by new equipment has doubled in size. The ED now treats as many as 200 patients each day in 25,000 square feet of space. Nearly 180 of these patients are airlifted here each month from areas in King County and the Puget Sound region for specialized trauma and emergency care.

Six operating rooms have been added at Harborview. Within weeks of completion, surgery teams began using the new facilities around the clock. Life-saving surgeries are now performed 24 hours a day. The six new hi-tech ORs bring the total at Harborview to 13.

Harborview's new radiology and trauma radiology areas are located next to the Emergency Department for the fastest and most efficient care.

Expansion also enabled Harborview to bring its intensive care units (ICU) together for more efficient use. Once spread throughout the hospital, most ICU beds are now nested on the second floor, increasing capacity and efficiency to meet the needs of our growing population and patient volumes.

Building for the 21st Century

King County design teams collaborating with Harborview faculty and staff have created one of the most advanced public health facilities in the nation.

Design and construction of Harborview's new wings was an intricate, complex process that demanded layout of miles of piping and wiring to support highly specialized electrical, computer and medical systems. The result is a state-of-the-art facility that is crafted not only to serve current needs but has the capacity to accommodate future advancements in medical and communications technology.

Award-Winning Design

Architectural detail of Harborview's expansion is heralded for its beauty and complements the art deco design of Harborview's first wing built in 1931.

In 1997, King County, Kaplan McLaughlin Diaz, project architects, and M.A. Mortenson, the general contractor, received the Excellence in Masonry Award from the Masonry Institute of Washington (MIW) for the expansion's handsome exterior.

Nearly 600,000 bricks were hand-laid to create this landmark building in the historic character of the First Hill neighborhood.

In keeping with the King County ordinance to provide art in public buildings, works of art have been integrated into Harborview's new design. Pieces include Tad Savinar's Keep Them Well etched glass wall in the main lobby; Debra Mersky's Harborview Quilt, a laser-cut steel mural in the cafeteria; Linda Beaumont's Full Circle terrazzo floor in the main lobby; Beliz Brother's courtyard Harborview Pillows; and Jack Chevalier's paintings on carved wood, A Bridge in Blue, Tree of Lights, Orange Return and Ferry, set in Harborview's second floor ICU waiting room.

A Workforce for the Future

Training newcomers to the construction field is another success achieved by King County's expansion of Harborview Medical Center. More than 300 apprentices have worked over 150,000 hours on the project, many acquiring skills to become active trade members.

In total, an average of 150 skilled men and women worked each day for about four years to complete Harborview's historic expansion. Minority- and women-owned firms received more than $33 million working on the $110 million public contract.

Building on a Source of Pride

Expansion of Harborview, managed by the King County Department of Construction and Facility Management, is one of the nation's largest and most complex projects at a public health facility.

The four-year project holds an exemplary safety record with over 1,500,000 labor hours logged and not a single serious injury. Over 75 construction firms in addition to the prime contractor, M.A. Mortenson Company, are involved with Harborview's historic expansion and renovation.

Pearl McElheran, director of the King County Department of Construction and Facility Management, has oversight for the project. Don Davis is the project's director. Kaplan McLaughlin Diaz is the project architect.

Harborview is located in a busy First Hill residential neighborhood. More than 5,000 people live within a few blocks of the hospital; 3,500 work here and hundreds more visit each day. Many residents and visitors are children, seniors and disabled citizens.

To minimize construction impacts and ensure safety, a communications team was formed to assist the project. Through a hotline, attending community events, distributing flyers and newsletters, team members were able to inform neighbors about ongoing work and also bring concerns back to the construction team for quick resolution.

"A responsive communications team like the one we had on this project is an important component for any effort this size in a community with as much activity as we have here," said Don Davis, King County project director.