Swedish Edmonds Hospital
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Swedish Health Services (formerly Swedish Medical Center) is a nonprofit healthcare provider in the
Seattle metropolitan area The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding Satellite city, satellites and suburbs. The United States Census Bureau defines the Seattle–T ...
. It operates five hospital campuses (in the
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
neighborhoods of First Hill,
Cherry Hill Cherry Hill often refers to: * Cherry Hill, New Jersey, a township in Camden County, New Jersey * Cherry Hill, Prince William County, Virginia, a census-designated place Cherry Hill may also refer to: Places Canada * Cherry Hill, Nova Scotia, a ...
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. Founded as a nonprofit hospital in First Hill, Seattle in 1910, the then-named Swedish Hospital was formed by 11
Swedish Americans Swedish Americans () are Americans of Swedish descent. The history of Swedish Americans dates back to the early colonial times, with notable migration waves occurring in the 19th and early 20th centuries and approximately 1.2 million arrivi ...
who wanted to offer care that incorporates the medical advances seen in other parts of the country. As of 2021, it employs more than 3,800 physicians and handles more than two million outpatient visits per year. The hospital network has been owned by the Catholic healthcare system
Providence Health & Services Providence Health & Services is a not-for-profit Catholic Church, Catholic healthcare system headquartered in Renton, Washington. The health system includes 51 hospitals, more than 800 non-acute facilities, and numerous assisted living faciliti ...
since 2012.


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, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
and was the father-in-law of Seattle businessman
Elmer Nordstrom Elmer J. Nordstrom (November 23, 1904 – April 4, 1993) was an American businessman, co-president of Nordstrom, the department store chain founded by his father, John W. Nordstrom. Early life He was born in Seattle on November 23, 1904, the s ...
. After returning from attending medical school at the
University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...
, he was disappointed by the facilities and the thinking in Seattle's hospitals, particularly those related to germ control and surgical techniques. 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 (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 is a not-for-profit Catholic Church, Catholic healthcare system headquartered in Renton, Washington. The health system includes 51 hospitals, more than 800 non-acute facilities, and numerous assisted living faciliti ...
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 on September 1, 2010, and the opening of a brand-new campus in Issaquah in July, 2011. In 2009, Swedish partnered with The Polyclinic to implement electronic health records, and in 2012, it became a division of Providence Health & Services. In 2014, Swedish formed new partnerships with Group Health Cooperative and Pacific Medical Centers.


Catholic affiliation

Swedish Health Services is owned by the Catholic healthcare system
Providence Health & Services Providence Health & Services is a not-for-profit Catholic Church, Catholic healthcare system headquartered in Renton, Washington. The health system includes 51 hospitals, more than 800 non-acute facilities, and numerous assisted living faciliti ...
. In 2012, Swedish and Providence announced that the two hospital systems would form an alliance, with both organizations citing their own staffing challenges caused by budget shortfalls as the reason. Swedish emphasized that it would remain a nonreligious organization, although the formerly independent Swedish would become a division of Providence. Around the same time of the merger announcement, Swedish also stopped performing elective abortions “out of respect for the affiliation,” and offered to instead underwrite a
Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization
center adjacent to its Seattle hospital. The Catholic affiliation came under scrutiny in 2020 when Virginia Mason Medical Center, another major Seattle hospital network, announced that it would merge with the faith-based
Catholic Health Initiatives Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) was a national Catholic healthcare system, with headquarters in Englewood, Colorado. CHI was a nonprofit, faith-based health system formed, in 1996, through the consolidation of three Catholic health systems. I ...
and similarly cease elective abortions. Before the merger, 41 percent of all Washington state hospital beds were already located in Catholic facilities. During the 2022 abortion protests, Swedish issued a statement clarifying that it is not bound by the Conference of Catholic Bishops’s Ethical and Religious Directives and would continue to offer
birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...
.


COVID-19 pandemic

During the early days of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
in March 2020, the hospital administration threatened to fire an anesthesiologist for wearing a
surgical mask A surgical mask, also known by other names such as a medical face mask or procedure mask, is a personal protective equipment used by healthcare professionals that serves as a mechanical barrier that interferes with direct airflow in and out of r ...
while walking in the hallway. The hospital has since backed down. It also required 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 seven hospitals in Washington that can perform
extracorporeal membrane oxygenation Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a form of extracorporeal life support, providing prolonged cardiac and respiratory system, respiratory support to people whose human heart, heart and human lung, lungs are unable to provide an adequa ...
, and accepted patients with extreme cases of
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
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, polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis, giant cell arter ...
to counter the effects of a
cytokine storm A cytokine storm, also called hypercytokinemia, is a pathological 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. Cytok ...
, an extreme immune reaction that occurs in the most extreme cases of COVID-19.


Notable staff

Since May 15, 2023, Dr. Elizabeth Wako 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