'Issaquah' posts

Our new facility in Issaquah will create many career opportunities in Issaquah, as well as at our existing Swedish facilities. In fact, some positions previously not recently available at other Swedish facilities will open up, due to employees accepting new positions in Issaquah. Currently, there are 25 new jobs posted for our new Issaquah Hospital. You can find them at www.swedish.org/careers.

Throughout 2011, new openings will be listed for other Swedish facilities and services (such as our Seattle hospital locations, area physician clinics, and Visiting Nurse Services program) and for our future Issaquah campus, as well as for our freestanding Ambulatory Care Centers in Redmond and Mill Creek. Some of the areas for which we anticipate opportunities early in the year include:

  As a reminder, the new medical center is being opened in two stages. The first stage is the opening of the medical-office building and outpatient center in July 2011.

This will be a big year for the Swedish project, with the first phase of the medical center opening in July.

We have come a long way in a year. Here’s what’s happening in February on the construction site:

Photo of site on Feb. 3, 2010

Photo of site on Feb. 3, 2011

Hospital & Central Wings:

What’s happening at Swedish Issaquah?

Happy New Year to you and yours! As we enter the mid part of the month, Swedish continues to work at an aggressive pace at the Issaquah construction site.

The exterior finish work will be complete by end of January for both the hospital wings and the medical office building, showcasing a mix of pre-cast concrete, Swiss pearl, metal panel, brick masonry and glass curtainwall.

Interior build-out continues throughout all floors ranging from paint, mechanical and electrical equipment trim, ceramic tile, ceilings and casework installation. Concurrently around the site, ground preparation for landscaping and irrigation systems continues.　

Work continues at a fast pace at Swedish/Issaquah. Specifically, the crew is enclosing the building with exterior finishes to protect interior work from the cold, windy and wet weather coming our way. Mechanical, plumbing, electrical and drywall work continues within the interior spaces of the hospital wings, while painting and installing ceiling assemblies and floor finishes will finish up on level 1 of the medical office building. Between January 2010 (when major work started) through end of August 2010, construction has generated 709 tons of mixed-waste material, with 643 tons of it diverted to recycling.

As the holiday months approach, Swedish continues to work at an aggressive pace at the Issaquah Highlands construction site. The new medical center is definitely taking shape since starting major work in January 2010. The project peeks through the hilltop’s trees, and can be seen from miles away traveling from Bellevue to Issaquah along 1-90.

In November work continues on the exterior skin at the hospital wings: masonry and precast will be finishing up, while glass and glazing will begin mid-month. Work also continues on installing the roof and screening elements.



Hospital Wings

For the interior of the hospital wings, build-out work moves forward that includes wall, ceiling and elevator installation. Painting will start in the center wing on Level G at the end of November.

Medical Office Building

Charging ahead in November, the Medical Office Building’s exterior glass framing will be installed through Level 5, and glazed-in up to Level 4. In addition, installation of the roof membrane continues.

Interior work includes the start of painting and placing ceramic tile, along with the ceiling grid beginning at the end of November, starting on Level 1. Like the hospital wings, progress continues on elevator work as well.

For the campus as a whole, efforts “tying-in” site utilities to the City’s infrastructure continues, including power, natural gas, storm and sewer lines.

Lee Brei, Swedish’s director of Facility Services, and Susan Gillespie, senior project manager for the Swedish/Issaquah Campus, are on a mission. They intend to make Swedish’s first major Eastside site the most energy-efficient facility in the region.

Swedish broke ground last October for a new 175-bed hospital and five-story medical office building (MOB) on 12.5 acres just off I-90/Exit 18. It is the first full-scale medical complex to be built in King County in more than 25 years. Plans call for 500,000+ square feet of built space, with the MOB targeted to open in July 2011 and the hospital seven months later.

“We have one chance to do this project right and take advantage of the best practices in new hospital construction,” explains Gillespie. “The key goals are to integrate advanced technologies and processes that significantly reduce energy consumption, cut our carbon footprint, and lower overall operating costs so we can provide the most cost-effective care.”

Brei adds, “The Issaquah Highlands is known for its ‘green’ building strategies, so we’ll fit right in with the community perception of what a new facility should be.”

Hospitals spend more on energy per square foot than any other commercial building type, notes the American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers.