Franciscan Health System has taken the first legal step towards construction of its planned 112-bed hospital in Gig Harbor. Franciscan recently applied for the necessary Certificate of Need from the Washington State Department of Health, which governs to process.
   In its 250-page application, Franciscan offered detailed information supporting the need for a state-of-the-art hospital that will provide an array of medical services for the growing population of Gig Harbor, Key Peninsula and south Kitsap County.
   Department of Health officials will review the data, and conduct a public hearing — possibly as soon as November — before issuing its decision on the $94 million project. It could take six to nine months before a decision is handed down.
   “We believe that the data strongly support the ever-increasing need for a hospital in Gig Harbor and our recent public survey shows 89 percent of the area’s residents want a hospital,” said Joe Wilczek, president and chief executive officer of Franciscan Health System. “We are confident the state will agree and approve a Certificate of Need.
   If approved, construction will begin in the summer of 2005. The 80-bed first phase of the hospital is expected to open in 2007. Other beds would be added in “shelled space” as the area’s health care needs continue to increase. A medical office building also is slated for construction adjacent to the proposed hospital.
   The hospital plans a 24-hour emergency department; medical, surgical and critical-care units; general medicine; in and outpatient surgery; a heart catheterization lab; a full range of diagnostic services, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), CT scans, ultrasound and mammography; physical, occupational and speech therapies; and a sleep disorders treatment center. Plans also call for six operating and two special-procedure rooms.
   A need assessment shows that within the next decade, Pierce County will require additional hospital beds to cope with the growing population of Gig Harbor and Key Peninsula. Greater Gig Harbor is already the second-most populous area in the state without an acute-care hospital. It ranks behind only the rapidly growing area of King County east of Bellevue and Lake Washington that includes Issaquah and Sammamish.
   Franciscan plans to build its hospital in north Gig Harbor, near the intersection of Canterwood Boulevard and Burnham Drive next to State Route 16. The hospital is expected to add approximately 450 family-wage jobs to the community’s economy.
   Construction will be funded by the Franciscan Health System and through philanthropic gifts and grants. The project will not require public funds or tax dollars.