"Health care in Kitsap County is expanding.The region’s newest facility, operated by Harrison Memorial Hospital, will open early this summer in Central Kitsap.Kathy Sanford, vice president of nursing services and administrative head for the Harrison Silverdale Healthcare Campus, said the new facility will provide services for people who live farther north in the county.The Harrison Silverdale Healthcare Campus will offer emergency care, a surgery center, a women and children’s center and health care offices. The 125,000 square foot, 32 acre health care facility is located at the intersection of Myhre Road and Ridgetop Boulevard. It will specialize in mother-baby, pediatric, rehabilitation and surgery services.The health care office building adjoined to the hospital facility will offer a wide range of doctors’ offices an other care. Hospital officials said they will announce who will occupy the health care offices soon.The two structures make up the first of several phases of development on the campus. The two-story hospital facility and the three-story health care office are expected to be completed by the end of June or early July.The general contracting company, Sellen Construction Co., started construction in July 1998. Sellen Construction Co. has been responsible for work on Bill Gates’ home, Microsoft, Swedish Hospital and other medical facilities in the Northwest.“We like to think of ourselves as the leader in the medical (industry) in the Northwest,” said Steve Thompson, a senior project engineer for the Sellen Construction Co. Thompson said the hospital structure has a wonderful design, inside and out, with “lots of glass.”“It’s a beautiful thing,” Thompson said. “It’s got a lodge feel with earth tones and natural light.”Sanford said the second floor of the hospital will be the women and children’s center — 20 beds designated for birthing and infant care, six bassinets for intermediate care nursery, eight beds for the pediatric unit, eight beds designated for gynecology and eight beds for the medical and surgical unit.The 44 rooms on the second floor all are single rooms, designed to provide patients with more privacy and family access, Sanford said.“Families can stay with their loved one,” Sanford said. “We want to be sensitive to all cultures. They may want to bring in their own food.”Sanford said rooms in the birthing and infant care unit have jacuzzi bathtubs, microwaves and small refrigerators. She said this will make patient stays more comfortable for all individuals involved.Thompson said the facility makes prominent use of outdoor light. He said the interior rooms will also be exposed to light and many will face an outdoor garden.Inside the middle core connecting the two facilities, the second floor of the hospital and the third floor of the health care offices will adjoin. The top lobby, which includes a waiting area, has a decorative natural theme with views of the Olympic Mountains and Dyes Inlet. A woody tree structure will be centered in the top and bottom lobby giving the appearance that the tree grew through the building.“This is not going to be the typical bland, white-walled hospital,” Thompson said. Inside the health care office building will be the women’s diagnostic imaging and breast center, a rehabilitation center, laboratory, community health education and conference center, a retail pharmacy, gift shop and physician’s and other health care offices.Sanford said a rehabilitation pool, the second of its kind in Kitsap, will be incorporated into the rehab center. The food service department is housed on the first floor of the health care office building. Sanford said the typical food service has changed to menu driven meals scheduled by patients in many cases. She said people interested in eating at the hospital restaurant will be given the opportunity to eat indoors or out.Thompson said construction is moving forward and the facility should be completed on schedule."

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