Kilmer Hails Job-Creating USDA Investment in Summit Pacific Medical Center’s New Facility to Improve Health in Grays Harbor
Grays Harbor, WA – Today, Representative Derek Kilmer (D-WA) hailed a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) investment in Summit Pacific Medical Center’s (SPMC) new wellness facility for the Grays Harbor community. SPMC was awarded $21.2 million through a USDA Rural Development Loan that will be used to help break ground on a new three story Wellness Center.
The center is projected to open in early 2019 and will create up to 80 jobs upon opening. Once complete, it will offer increased access to a number of needed services for Grays Harbor such as 17 primary care providers, integrated behavioral health programs, physical therapy, diagnostic imaging and to address the challenges of the opioid epidemic in Washington state. The center will also focus on helping children and adolescents stay healthy through interactive activity centers and a new playground.
“This is great news for Grays Harbor County,” said Kilmer. “The USDA’s investment will grow jobs in our community now and position us to keep providing quality healthcare in the future. That’s because this center will give providers the ability to confront challenges our community faces – like the mental health and opioid crises – with groundbreaking methods that help people get better.”
“We are very appreciative for the immense funding that was awarded to us by the USDA,” said Josh Martin, CEO of Summit Pacific Medical Center. “We have an amazing team here at Summit Pacific Medical Center and this funding helps solidify to them the importance of the work they do, as well as the work we still need to do moving forward. While we understand that there is a long road ahead of us in working with our community to transform health and wellness in Grays Harbor, we are up for the challenge. Thanks to the USDA, we will soon have the facilities needed to increase access to care and build a healthier community for generations to come.”
The USDA Rural Development program provides loans, grants and loan guarantees that support economic development projects and essential services in areas like housing, health care, first responder services and equipment, along with water and electric infrastructure.
In 2011, Grays Harbor Public Hospital District No. 1, then Mark Reed Hospital District, received a $19 million USDA Rural Development Loan for a replacement hospital and clinic facility in Elma Washington.