continue to be high quality

We are writing to reassure residents of Greater Ballard and north Seattle that Swedish Medical Center/Ballard will continue to provide for the health-care needs of the community, including its elderly residents.

Besides offering a state of-the-art family childbirth center that is expanding to serve a growing community, Swedish/Ballard will continue performing inpatient and outpatient procedures often necessary to treat an aging population. These services include total joint replacement, elective general surgery, gynecologic surgery, endoscopy (such as colon screening, diagnosis and treatment), physical therapy and a wide range of diagnostic imaging.

Changes are being made at Swedish/Ballard to better align the services offered at all four of our campuses. This will reduce duplication so we can provide more integrated and efficient care to meet the needs of the community - not just in Ballard but throughout Seattle and the surrounding area.

These changes are being made after a systematic and comprehensive gathering of information through interviews in the community, input from physicians and staff and examination of the trends in hospital management, quality of care and safety of patients.

We are continuing to provide a wide range of services at Swedish/Ballard to serve the community. This includes a full-service emergency department that is expanding to include a larger array of pediatric emergency-care services. We will also be adding the capability to monitor patients at the Swedish/Ballard Emergency Department electronically, just as if they were in our First Hill or Providence campus intensive care units. Swedish/Ballard ER staff will be able to consult with other specialists and provide focused acute care based on this electronic monitoring capability. Patients who require highly specialized care for complicated childbirth, stroke, heart attacks or other severe health conditions will be stabilized, if necessary, before quickly and safely being transported to departments at one of our other hospital campuses that are specifically designed to provide more intensive specialty care.

Our realigned services at Swedish/Ballard include an increased emphasis on the rapid assessment, diagnosis, monitoring, and placement of patients admitted both through the Emergency Department, and directly from physician offices. Enhanced training for acute-care nurses at Swedish/Ballard is ongoing, and nurses with advanced training are available at the Ballard campus around the clock.

Swedish/Ballard is part of our system-wide certification for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke. This program at Swedish is just one of only 39 currently in the United States with this certification.

The decision to discontinue intensive care at Swedish/Ballard was made after examining a number of factors. Most important of these was our commitment to improved patient safety and quality of care through the creation of institutes of excellence within the Swedish Medical Center system. Evidence shows that medical outcomes are improved when patients with similar illnesses - who need similar levels of care - receive treatment at the same location.

In addition, health-care standards indicate that the more experience a care provider has at performing a particular procedure or process, the better the outcomes. This is particularly true of complex medical care. Physicians who practice at Swedish/Ballard have a great deal of expertise, but the outcomes they achieve can be improved when they have access to broad and deep support, ancillary services and technology offered by organizations such as Swedish's numerous institutes of excellence.

We understand that Swedish Medical Center/Ballard occupies an historic and special place in this community. Swedish Medical Center's commitment to Greater Ballard and north Seattle remains unchanged. We will continue to provide high quality care at Swedish Medical Center/Ballard to meet the diverse needs of this community.

David Kiehn

Director of Operations

Swedish Medical Center/Ballard

Rayburn Lewis M.D.

Vice President, Medical Affairs

Swedish Medical Center and

Medical Director Ballard Campus

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