SEQUIM — Olympic Medical Center is preparing to move forward with an estimated $7.9 million expansion of its cancer center in Sequim.
The OMC hospital board will consider the proposed design for the Olympic Medical Cancer Center during its Feb. 15 meeting, said CEO Eric Lewis on Monday.
Lewis will present more info about the 10,900-square-foot expansion during the board’s 12:30 p.m. meeting today in the upstairs conference room at the Sequim Medical Services Building, 840 N. Fifth Ave.
OMC is still negotiating with the architect, but given the design as it is proposed, the expansion would cost about $7.9 million, he said.
“We’re still negotiating the final amount of that,” Lewis said.
Of that, $5 million is included in the 2017 budget, with the rest planned in 2018.
Lewis said the goal is to fund at least $1 million of the project with donations, such as those from the OMC Foundation, which already has contributed about $300,000.
OMC took on a $20 million bond in December, part of which is slated for the cancer center expansion.
If approved, the medical oncology department would be expanded from five exam rooms to about 15, Lewis said. Infusions services would expand from 11 rooms to 15 or 16, he said.
The expansion also includes a larger pharmacy.
“We have a pharmacy in the cancer center, but it is way too small,” Lewis said.
Lewis said the current design allows OMC to add on to the building in the future. It’s designed for it to be easy to add six more chemotherapy infusion rooms, four employee offices and a large conference room.
“It’s a very flexible design and it allows us to grow,” he said.
The goal is to put the contract out to bid over the summer and break ground in October.
If all goes as planned, the expansion would open for use in fall 2018, he said.
The number of patient visits at the cancer center has grown by 157 percent throughout the past 10 years, and even more growth is expected in the future, Lewis said.
He anticipates that number to climb as more people have cancer treated locally instead of in Seattle.
“A lot more cancer care is done locally,” he said, adding that Clallam County has an older population.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
