Partnership Priorities
Starting in Parkland, serving our neighbors.
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. In the partnership’s launch initiative, MultiCare Health System is building a new medical facility on PLU’s campus. The MultiCare Medical Center at Pacific Lutheran University will provide high-quality, culturally appropriate outpatient services to the almost 200,000 people in and around Central Pierce County.
From South Sound to statewide, the next generation of health leaders learn here.
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.
The Partnership
The three institutions identified Parkland-Spanaway and the surrounding area as a micro-region in urgent need of additional health care resources and established the Partnership for Health Innovation.
- PLU’s 130-plus-year commitment to service and care in Parkland-Spanaway and Pierce County, with strengths in nursing, natural sciences, and health-related fields integrated with the liberal arts, made its campus the prime location for this new center.
- MultiCare is committed to the Parkland-Spanaway community and has announced the construction of the medical center on PLU’s campus.
- The WSU College of Medicine is working with PLU and MultiCare to place medical students throughout Central Pierce County who will train in and provide care to the community, live on the PLU campus, and have access to PLU and MultiCare instructional and clinical facilities.
Launch Initiative
MultiCare Health System and Pacific Lutheran University 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.
This new facility will offer urgently needed outpatient care. As PLU’s focus groups and outreach identified access to health care as a top priority from the Parkland community, MultiCare will continue the partnership’s commitment to community listening, holding a series of focus groups with neighbors, school districts, and local organizations to help shape the services provided.
Central Pierce County Stats
* Data obtained from the 2020 Comprehensive Hospital Abstract Reporting System (CHARS) baseline report.
The Partners
Pacific Lutheran University serves 2,700 uniquely diverse students — and engages 40,000+ alumni — as they discern their life’s vocation through coursework and experiences that purposefully integrate the liberal arts, professional studies, and civic engagement. Faculty and staff lead with an emphasis on hands-on, real-world learning with a bold commitment to expanding well-being, opportunity, and justice. The university is uniquely poised to offer academic programs in the health professions that are grounded in our robust tradition of exceptional liberal arts education.
PLU:
- Is home to one of the best nursing schools in the Pacific Northwest.
- Is among Washington State’s leading pre-health-science undergraduate institutions.
- Attracts and supports a diverse and local student body; over one-third of PLU’s students are pursuing a health sciences degree.
- Offers undergraduate and graduate programs in innovative care fields, including social work, kinesiology, and marriage and family therapy.
“This partnership between PLU, MultiCare, and the WSU College of Medicine is going to be a game-changer for our local health care, not only for the Parkland-Spanaway community, but for all of Pierce County. Together, we will develop innovative programs and resources that will positively impact the health and well-being of this community. That impact will be achieved through providing quality health services and through the education and training of future health care leaders.“
– Allan Belton, President, Pacific Lutheran University
MultiCare Health System’s roots in the Pacific Northwest go back to 1882, with the founding of Tacoma’s first hospital. Over the years, MultiCare has grown from a Tacoma-centric, hospital-based organization into the largest community-based, locally governed health system in Washington, with 12 hospitals and more than 22,000 team members.
MultiCare:
- Has two behavioral specialty health hospitals in West Seattle and Tacoma.
- Provides more than 256 primary-care, specialty-care, and urgent-care clinics in Pierce, King, Kitsap, Thurston, Snohomish, Spokane, and Yakima Counties.
- Operates five neighborhood emergency departments, including emergency services in Parkland-Spanaway.
- Conducting ground- breaking health care research right here in the South Sound.
- Is Pierce County’s largest private employer.
“MultiCare is committed to ensuring the communities we serve have access to a wide range of health care options, now and for the years to come. We’re pleased to join Pacific Lutheran University and Washington State University’s College of Medicine in developing a health care innovation center in Central Pierce County that will expand access to educational opportunities in our region. We are also pleased to partner in the development of a multi-specialty clinic on the PLU campus that will provide additional training opportunities and serve the residents in Parkland-Spanaway and the surrounding areas.“
– Bill Robertson, CEO, MultiCare
WSU’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine is Washington’s community-based medical school. The college was created to expand medical education and health care access across the state.
WSU College of Medicine:
- Offers degree and certificate programs in medicine, nutrition and exercise physiology, speech and hearing sciences, health administration and leadership, and medical ethics. Additionally, WSU has three graduate medical education residency programs — internal medicine, pediatric, and family medicine.
- Conducts groundbreaking research that impacts communities locally and worldwide.
- Promotes health and health care equity for Washington and beyond with a focus on rural communities, Tribal Nations, and people who have been historically marginalized.
“We are deeply committed to expanding medical education and health care access in communities across Washington. For the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, a critical component of this is seeking community partnerships that are innovative, collaborative, and mission-aligned. The partnership with PLU and MultiCare, organizations that embody a shared vision of equitable health care for Washington, meets all these criteria. Launching this new initiative will allow us to change the health care ecosystem and take an important step toward helping Pierce County residents access the equitable health care they need.“
– Dr. Jim Record, Dean, WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
Recent collaborations between the partners that demonstrate a commitment to addressing critical health education and care challenges include:
- Since 2017, WSU College of Medicine students have trained at a MultiCare Clinic in Spokane. The clinic is participating in a pilot program sponsored by the state Health Care Authority to help people quit stimulant drugs using an incentive-based approach shown to be effective through decades of WSU research.
- In 2021, PLU and the WSU College of Medicine signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a public-private health-sciences education partnership, featuring in-progress renovations to support team-based learning, research opportunities, and PLU campus housing for WSU medical students.
- In 2021, the MultiCare Institute for Research & Innovation and scholars at the WSU College of Medicine published a study to better understand Washington State’s health disparities during the pandemic.
- In 2023, PLU and MultiCare created an academic-practice partnership to support PLU’s new Masters of Social Work program, including program investment and placements for students in MultiCare facilities.
Future Work Together
Medical Center Launch Initiative
Build the MultiCare Medical Center at Pacific Lutheran University.
Increase Clinical Settings
Provide more rotations in clinical settings to give PLU and WSU students increased exposure to health care environments and enhance their learning opportunities.
Increase Access
Increase access to graduate medical education for WSU residents to encourage them to complete their training in Pierce County. Host WSU graduate residents on PLU’s campus in the future.
Expand Opportunities
Expand opportunities for WSU medical students on the PLU campus, including creating a model comparable to WSU’s Tri-Cities, Vancouver, and Everett campuses.
Support Blue Zones
Continue to support the Blue Zones Project Parkland-Spanaway in implementing health-improvement strategies with and for the community to transform the well-being of all community members.
Center Community Engagement
Listen and center community engagement. The partners understand that community input and engagement are key to ensuring that the partnership achieves the greatest possible impact. Community members will play a vital role in identifying opportunities for additional plans and programs.