Good evening. My name is Chad Krilich. I am a family physician. It is a privilege to come before and speak on the behalf of MultiCare Health System and our project here in Covington. I was born in Tacoma, WA and recall driving along highway 18 as a two lane road to make my way across the pass. At that time, I also recall all too often seeing accidents that would require emergency services. Many things have changed from that time to now. Covington is clearly a city on the rise, and I hope to share my experiences with you as a doctor and father which may provide more insight to the choice before you on whether to build an emergency department at the proposed the town center.

Currently, I work as the Associate Medical Director for Primary Care and Urgent Care services in South King County. While providing physician leadership, I also have the opportunity to continue providing care for patients. Much of time when I started this job approximately two years ago was spent at the Covington Urgent Care. It is clear that this community needs an emergency department and hospital. All that it takes is one shift in our urgent care and the need of this community is apparent. Whether it is the with patient with severely displaced fracture after skiing up on the pass or the gentlemen who comes in upon his wife’s encouragement to have his chest pain evaluated; we need to facilitate a higher level of care for the community of Covington.

One day a week I now see patients in Gig Harbor where I currently reside. The MultiCare facility in Uptown is beautiful. My wife Julie and our two kids, Drew and Alli, have made many a trip there for lunch, dinner, and/or ice cream. It is a great to see friends and colleagues as we walk around. Knowing of the level of care patients need in Covington casts a different picture on this setting.

For one, knowing what a town center feels like, it would be disappointing for Covington accept the concept of having an emergency department present in a Town Center. Seeing and reading what our colleagues have done with a free-standing emergency department in Issaquah is astounding. That being said, I would not be too enthusiastic about “sirens blaring”lights flashing” and patients rushing into the Town Center as was stated in the US News and World Report article in route to a higher level of care1. This would be an occurrence that would likely happen at leas eight tup to four times a day. Clearly, this supports why we do not see emergency departments in town centers across the nation. That is not what I would imagine for my family as we spend a day at our town center whether it be in Gig Harbor or Covington.

Going forward, I am thrilled about our opportunity to provide for Covington. Having already been an anchor of urgent care services for 33,000 patients annually, we look forward to providing more access in the future. Whether by leveraging our expertise in electronic health records which is regarded throughout the nation or

1 http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2008/09/17/need-the-emergency-room-skip-the-wait.html

furthering our relationships which have developed over the last 20 years; the Covington MultiCare Medical Center will be a hospital of the future.