MultiCare Yakima Memorial is a 226-bed acute-care, not-for-profit community hospital that has served Central Washington's Yakima Valley since 1950. MultiCare Yakima Memorial also includes a multispecialty team of more than 300 practitioners and 20-plus primary care and specialty care locations. Specialty care services include cardiac care, a continuum of cancer care, hospice care and advanced services for children with special healthcare needs.
MultiCare Yakima Memorial includes:
- Governance. MultiCare Yakima Memorial is governed by a volunteer board of directors.
- Physicians. MultiCare Yakima Memorial has a multispecialty team of more than 300 physicians, offering primary care and a broad range of specialty care.
- Hospital. MultiCare Yakima Memorial operates an acute care hospital in Yakima, licensed for 226 beds, which includes one of the region's busiest Emergency Departments.
- Clinics. MultiCare Yakima Memorial includes a network of clinics in the Yakima area.
- Philanthropy. The Memorial Foundation is the fundraising division of the health system and operates with a volunteer board of directors.
Our Executive Leadership Team
Tammy Buyok
President
Matt Allore
Assistant Vice President, Human Potential
Kim Bersing, RN
Chief Nurse Executive
Marty Brueggemann, MD
Vice President, Chief Medical Officer
Tanny Davenport, MD
Vice President, Physician Executive
Shawnie Haas
Vice President, Specialty & Ancillary Services
Jason Mitchell
CFO
Sarika Tiwari
Executive Director,
Medical Group, Physician Recruitment
Our volunteer Board of Directors
Our volunteer Board of Directors bases all decisions on the needs of the community. Investor-owned, for-profit health systems have a financial incentive to avoid caring for uninsured and underinsured patients. They have a financial incentive to avoid hard-to-serve populations. We offer many programs that are costly and generally unprofitable, such as the community cancer registry, diabetes education, and various programs for children and families. It's our mission to sustain these much-needed services, regardless of how we are reimbursed.
David Hargreaves
Chair
Gail Weaver
Vice Chair
Duane Rossman
Treasurer
Cynthia Juarez
Secretary
Doug Ellison
Kerry Harthcock, MD
Maribel Torres Jiménez
Pat Oshie
Mirna Ramos Diaz, MD
Stephen Rupp, MD
Rob Williams, MD
Purpose, mission, vision, and values
Core purpose:
To inspire people to thrive
Our core purpose reflects the heart of an organization over several decades. It is something that continually guides us.
Mission:
Partnering for healing and a healthy future.
Vision:
MultiCare will be the Pacific Northwest’s highest value system of health.
Values:
- Respect: We affirm the dignity of each person and treat each individual with care and compassion.
- Integrity: We speak and act honestly to build trust.
- Stewardship: We develop, use and preserve our resources for the benefit of our customers and community
- Excellence: We hold ourselves accountable to excel in quality of care, personal competence and operational performance.
- Collaboration: We work together recognizing that the power of our combined efforts will exceed what we can accomplish individually.
- Kindness: We always treat everyone we come into contact with as we would want to be treated.
History
The words, "MultiCare Yakima Memorial, wherein is enshrined the living heart and spirit of a charitable and generous people," are as true today as they were in 1950.
It was in 1943 that Yakima accountant Edwin B. Mueller's daughter, Carol, was diagnosed with "high polio," a potentially fatal strain of the disease. She was sent to the local children's ward (collection of beds) at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Yakima's only inpatient medical facility.
Sensing somehow that Carol would not survive the polio attack, Ed and his wife, Phyllis, were determined to remain by the 9-year-old's bedside. Overcrowding made their desire impossible, and the Mueller's daughter drew her last breath with her parents in a waiting room just outside the crowded ward.
Shortly after Carol's death, Ed made a solemn vow, "I never wanted another parent to be denied being with their loved ones during severe crises, only because of hospital space."
In 1944, Ed Mueller met his friends, attorney George Martin and funeral director Donald Keith, over a cup of coffee to discuss his plans for a new hospital. They took their idea to James Bronson, director of Boise Cascade, and orchardist Ernest Kershaw. Through the determination of these five men, 16 community leaders banded together to explore the possibility of building a new hospital in Yakima. In May 1944, the Articles of Incorporation as a non-profit, charitable organization were filed, and MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital was formed.
Before a formal fundraising campaign was launched, trustees wanted to see if the public would support the project. A weekend was chosen to take the idea to the community and "test" public opinion. During the first few hours of the pledge drive, $180,000 was collected!
Truly the people of Yakima wanted MultiCare Yakima Memorial to be built. Fundraising began in earnest. A site in the middle of the "lower orchards," just outside Yakima's limits (on what is now Tieton Drive), was selected. A Chicago architect specializing in hospitals was chosen, and building plans were approved in 1946.
On July 7, 1947, The Honorable William O. Douglas, Justice of the United States Supreme Court, formally dedicated the hospital site. Construction by William Yeaman & Co. began on May 24, 1948. At the formal groundbreaking ceremony, members of the board of trustees each turned a shovel of dirt using a "golden" spade. Just a year later, the cornerstone of the new hospital was laid, engraved with a message for all to ponder: "MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital, wherein is enshrined the living heart and spirit of a charitable and generous people."
By June 3, 1950, the building was complete and ready to receive visitors. Almost 15,000 people toured the hospital during open house festivities. On June 20, MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital opened its doors to patients with 146 beds and 155 employees supported by over 200 auxiliary members who worked as unit clerks, dietary aides, office help and wherever else they were needed—including furnishing homemade sandwiches, cookies and coffee for the hospital's first cafeteria.