Port Townsend: Jefferson Healthcare commissioners eye expansion

PORT TOWNSEND — Because Jefferson Healthcare hospital physicians are forced to work in cramped offices, hospital commissioners on Wednesday reviewed options to expand its medical facilities.

“We have six physicians practicing in the space designed for three,” said Jefferson Healthcare Administrator Vic Dirksen.

“We are short of space for physicians’ offices.”

One short-term solution to the problem may be leasing or buying the newly constructed building across Sheridan Street from the hospital campus in Port Townsend.

Commissioners are considering the new 14,000-square-foot ground floor of the new McCarron building, 915 Sheridan St., owned by a retired surgeon Jim McCarron.

The building has vacant ground floor space specifically designed for medical offices. Its top level is occupied by state Department of Social and Health Services’ offices.

“It might meet our needs,” Dirksen said.

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