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Mason General Hospital & Family of Clinics (MGH&FC) continues its commitment to putting patients first by breaking ground on a new medical office building, set to open in 2019. The new 60,000-square-foot medical building will be located on the hospital’s campus, directly east of the main hospital building on 13th Street. The plan for the new medical office is to consolidate services from multiple medical practices and increase the number of patient exam rooms from 71 to 104. The $39 million-dollar project will be financed mainly using revenue bonds, serviced through the hospital’s operating revenue, which means the project will not require any new tax funding. It will streamline the patient experience and provide easier access to medical care for the Mason County community and beyond.

Mason General Hospital Ground Breaking Ceremony
President of the Board of Hospital Commissioners, Scott Hilburn, Commissioners, Gayle Weston and Don Wilson and CEO of Mason General Hospital & Family Clinics, Eric Moll, are the first to break ground on the hospital’s new medical building. Photo credit: Molly Walsh

MGH&FC is celebrating 50 years of providing care for the community and the organization is proud to offer services to patients that may have not historically been administered in a rural hospital setting. “We are growing,” says Jennifer Capps, chief development and communication officer. “We are no longer, and have not been for quite some time, the same rural hospital that emerged in 1968.”

In addition to construction on the new medical building, the hospital has worked to introduce new imaging machines, as well as specialized clinics catering to a number of health conditions. “Our patients have access to the only open MRI available in the rural Puget Sound,” reports Scott Hilburn, president of the Hospital Board of Commissioners. “We are proud of the variety of specialized services we offer including wound care, diabetic counseling and an anticoagulation clinic. We have added a lab draw station, a walk-in clinic with extended hours, a 3D mammogram machine and we offer medical advice for the most common medical conditions through our 24-hour tele-medicine virtual care program.”

This new medical building won’t just increase services within the hospital, but will also bring MGH&FC closer to its vision of completely integrated care within outpatient clinics. All clinics within the Mason General Hospital family will be relocated to the new medical building, with the exception of MGH Hoodsport Family Clinic. “This is about bringing all of our clinics and all of our providers into one building, attached to the hospital,” says Eric Moll, CEO of Mason General Hospital. “This will allow us to fulfill our vision of integrated, team-based care and will allow us to do three things. It will allow us to increase access. It will allow us to increase care coordination. And it will improve communication between providers in clinics and the hospital.”

Mason General Hospital Ground Breaking Ceremony CEO Eric Moll
Mason General Hospital CEO, Eric Moll, explains construction plans for the new medical building. Photo credit: Molly Walsh

The medical office construction coincides with the growing population of Mason County, which has grown by 22 percent since the year 2000, according to the Hospital. The population is projected to grow by that same percentage in the next five years. MGH&FC is working to not just increase access to patient care, but tailor the access to fit the needs of the population. “Mason County is also getting older,” Moll reports. “It is a wonderful place to retire and we can expect a significant increase in the 65 and older population. Most of healthcare resources are consumed by older patients.”

That also means fashioning the needs of the community to the available space in the new medical building. “We have already identified the number of areas that are high need,” says Moll. “There’s about 19,000 square feet that’s called shelled space. In this first phase, that is where we will relocate all of the existing services. The shelled space will then allow us to expand in the second phase into these new service lines. So, ear, nose and throat as an example, and gastroenterology, are both high community needs, so we are looking at how we might use that space.”

Mason General Hospital Ground Breaking Ceremony 4
Mason General Hospital executives and staff greet one another at the ground breaking ceremony for Mason General Hospital’s new medical building. Photo credit: Molly Walsh

Now that ground is broken, construction will be under way for the new building, beginning with the demolition and relocation of multiple non-medical departments. The main entrance of the hospital will also be moved toward the end of 2018. The relocation and consolidation of clinics will start after construction is completed, in the winter of 2019.

As for naming the new medical office building, that is a joint decision, with input from key stakeholders like hospital staff and community members. The name will be revealed on November 17 at the Mason General Hospital Foundation’s fundraiser, the Fantasy Forest Gala and Live Auction at Little Creek Casino Resort. All proceeds from the event will benefit Mason General Hospital & Family of Clinics.

To learn more, visit the Mason General Hospital & Family of Clinics website.

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