Press Releases: Northwest
December 9, 2005
Kaiser Permanente gets ready to expand to Polk County
Site in West Salem will be third Kaiser Permanente facility in mid-Willamette Valley
SALEM, Ore. – Kaiser Permanente will bring its health care services to Polk County for the first time next fall when it opens a new medical office in West Salem. Kaiser Permanente has signed a lease for a 15,000-square-feet, one-story building currently under construction along Wallace Road. Kaiser Permanente expects to open for patients in late fall of 2006.
Some 7,600 people in Polk County get their health care from Kaiser Permanente along with more than 800 others in nearby Benton County. "People in west Salem and beyond have been eager for us to locate some of our health services west of the Willamette," says Dan Roth, MD, primary care medical director for Kaiser Permanente in Salem. "Now that we're expanding to Polk County, our patients there will have more convenient access to health care services, including both adult and pediatric care."
Dr. Roth expects the new medical office to open with four physicians, a number which can grow as membership increases. "We'll also have lab, pharmacy and X-ray services here at the West Salem Medical Office."
Kaiser Permanente has served Salem-area residents since the 1980s from a medical office at 2400 Lancaster Drive NE.
In 1989 it added a second medical office at 5125 Skyline Road S. The health care organization also serves dental plan members in the Salem area from dental offices next to its Salem medical offices. However, no dental office is planned for West Salem at this time.
Kaiser Permanente currently employs nearly 600 staff in Salem, including 57 physicians and 20 dentists.
Kaiser Permanente is America's leading integrated health care organization. Founded in 1945, the organization serves the health needs of more than 8.4 million people nationwide. More than 470,000 people in Oregon and Southwest Washington receive their health care from Kaiser Permanente, including 50,000 in the mid-Willamette Valley.
