Swedish Health Services, formerly Swedish Medical Center, is the largest nonprofit

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organ ...

provider in the

Seattle metropolitan area The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding satellites and suburbs. It contains the three most populous counties in the state—King, Snohomish, and Pierce ...

. It operates five hospital campuses (in the Seattle neighborhoods of First Hill, Cherry Hill and Ballard, and the cities of Edmonds and Issaquah), ambulatory care centers in the cities of Redmond and Mill Creek, and Swedish Medical Group, a network of more than 100 primary-care and specialty clinics. It is affiliated with many other health care providers across

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

, and had 8,886 employees and 6,023 credentialed physicians as of 2013.

History

Dr. Nils August Johanson founded Swedish Hospital in 1910 as Seattle's first modern nonprofit medical facility. Dr. Johanson was an immigrant from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

and was the father-in-law of Seattle businessman Elmer Nordstrom; the medical center's name pays tribute to Johanson's heritage. In 1932, Swedish opened the first cancer-care center west of the Mississippi. The board of trustees for Swedish Hospital were historically of Swedish descent until the election of two non-Swedish-American doctors in 1968. Swedish originally started with its First Hill campus, but began to expand its network by merging with

Seattle General Hospital Seattle General Hospital and School for Nurses was a hospital and nursing school in the U.S. state of Washington. It was located at 909 Fifth Avenue in Seattle. The hospital was originally established in 1895 and reopened in a new building in 190 ...

(founded 1895) and the Doctors Hospital (founded 1944) in May, 1978. Swedish then expanded outside First Hill when it purchased Ballard Community Hospital in the Seattle district of Ballard (founded 1928) on July 1, 1992. The Ballard purchase was followed up with that of Providence Seattle Medical Center (founded 1876) in the Central District from

Providence Health & Services Providence Health & Services (since 2016: Providence St. Joseph Health) is a not-for-profit, Catholic health care system operating multiple hospitals across seven states, with headquarters in Renton, Washington. The health system includes 51 ho ...

in February 2000. After a decade, Swedish began expanding outside Seattle and King County with its lease of Stevens Hospital (founded January 26, 1964)

Edmonds Edmonds may refer to: * Edmonds (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the surname) * Edmonds, Washington, a city in Washington, US ** Edmonds station (Washington), a passenger train station in Washington, US * Edmonds station (SkyT ...

on September 1, 2010, and the opening of a brand-new campus in Issaquah in July, 2011. In 2009, Swedish partnered with

The Polyclinic The Polyclinic is a group of health care facilities in Seattle, Washington. It has over 14 locations and 200 primary care and specialty physicians in most areas of medicine. On-site services are available at several locations, including laborato ...

to implement electronic health records, and in 2012 it became affiliated with

. In 2014, Swedish formed new partnerships with

Group Health Cooperative Group Health Cooperative, (formerly known as Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound), later more commonly known as Group Health, was a Seattle, Washington based nonprofit healthcare organization. Business model Established in , Group Health prov ...

and Pacific Medical Centers.

COVID-19 pandemic

In 2020, the hospital administration threatened to fire a physician for wearing

personal protective equipment Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, ...

outside a patient care area during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The hospital has since backed down. It requires workers infected with coronavirus to exhaust sick and vacation time before granting them 80 hours of emergency time off. Swedish Medical Center is one of only two hospitals in Washington that can perform

extracorporeal membrane oxygenation Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), also known as extracorporeal life support (ECLS), is an extracorporeal technique of providing prolonged cardiac and respiratory support to persons whose heart and lungs are unable to provide an adequa ...

, and so it accepted patients with the most extreme cases of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

during the pandemic. The hospital is performing clinical trials of

Tocilizumab Tocilizumab, sold under the brand name Actemra among others, is an immunosuppressive drug, used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis, a severe form of arthritis in children, and COVID19. It is a huma ...

to counter the effects of a

cytokine storm A cytokine storm, also called hypercytokinemia, is a physiological reaction in humans and other animals in which the innate immune system causes an uncontrolled and excessive release of pro-inflammatory signaling molecules called cytokines. Norma ...

, an extreme immune reaction that occurs in the most extreme cases of COVID-19.

Notable Staff

Since 2017, Dr. Guy Hudson has served as Swedish's chief executive officer.

References

Sources

*Nordstrom, Katharine Johanson; Marshall, Margaret (2002) ''My Father's Legacy: The Story of Doctor Nils August Johanson, Founder of Swedish Medical'' (University of Washington Press)

External links

* {{authority control Hospital networks in the United States Medical and health organizations based in Washington (state) Swedish-American culture in Washington (state) Hospitals established in 1910 1910 establishments in Washington (state) Hospitals in Seattle Trauma centers