According to a 2020 study, Central Pierce County lacks health care access. With the community expected to grow by 6%, especially among the 65+ age group, this lack of access is more problematic. To meet this need MultiCare Health System and Pacific Lutheran University recently announced plans to build a new outpatient care medical center on the PLU campus.
The new facility, called MultiCare Medical Center at Pacific Lutheran University, is part of MultiCare’s ongoing effort to improve health care access in the South Sound. The center will provide Central Pierce County communities with efficient, convenient, and high-quality services.
The medical center will be coupled with a new health education and care district in Parkland powered by the Partnership for Health Innovation, a collaborative initiative between PLU, MultiCare, and Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. The collaboration will address critical health care inequities and provider shortages in Pierce County and beyond.
Washington is grappling with a severe shortage of health care professionals. The medical center will provide a wide variety of opportunities for health science students from PLU and the WSU College of Medicine to learn from expert providers while serving the community. Future partnership initiatives will focus on innovative approaches to teaching and learning so students will not only be able to join the workforce, but also be ready to lead. Investing in this partnership is investing in the workforce that Washington needs.
Access to quality, whole-person health care is essential to improving health outcomes, particularly for traditionally underserved and vulnerable populations. As a medically underserved area, the unincorporated Central Pierce County region, including Parkland and Spanaway, experiences multiple barriers to community health. As the community has grown, health disparities have also increased exponentially.
Located in Parkland, Pacific Lutheran University serves 2,700 uniquely diverse students with 40,000+ alumni many of which still call the South Puget Sound home. To learn more about this initiative visit https://www.plu.edu/health-innovation/.
By Lynn Castle