Off-campus ER opens Friday, check out downtown winery and this pizzeria’s new third site

Update: MultiCare officials learned Monday they won’t have an ambulance on standby at all times at MultiCare Emergency Lacey, but can call one at any time.

After 18 months of construction, MultiCare Emergency Lacey, an off-campus emergency department affiliated with Capital Medical Center, opened at 7:30 a.m. Friday at Golf Club Road and Pacific Avenue.

The 10-bed emergency room is the fifth such site in MultiCare’s health care network, but the first in Thurston County. It also gives MultiCare 18 emergency room beds in the area, including those at Capital Medical Center. The Tacoma-based nonprofit health care organization acquired the west side hospital more than two years ago, said Will Callicoat, president of the hospital.

Callicoat and Bill Hurley, emergency services medical director at MultiCare Capital Medical Center, were recently on site at the new emergency room to talk about its services.

It will have a total staff of 75 — a figure the ER expects to ramp up to. Patients will come and go via exits and entrances on Golf Club Road and Selma Street and it will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Hurley, who has worked at MultiCare’s other off-campus locations, expects patient volumes to play out in Lacey just as they have elsewhere, he said. That means 30-50 people a day, eventually rising to 80-100. About 30% will be children, he said.

Although the staff is trained and prepared to work with children, the ER will eventually have a pediatrician on staff, Hurley said.

About 3% of patients that come to the ER will need to be admitted to a hospital. An ambulance can be called at all times to go to Capital Medical, Providence St. Peter Hospital or to one of MultiCare’s hospitals in Pierce County, Hurley said.

The ER is aiming for a total patient turnaround time of 2.5 hours and a 15-minute wait time before their initial assessment.

Perhaps above all, they hope the new ER “decants some of the pressure” felt by emergency rooms in the area, so that those staff can focus on the more urgent and serious medical cases.

“It’s an added resource to help both hospitals,” Callicoat said.

Other business happenings

Looking for a bottle of wine? Check out Endless Sound Cellars, a new winery and tasting room opened by Mark Bosso in the former Peddler Bistro space at 222 Market in downtown Olympia. The business had its soft opening in October and a grand opening earlier this month.

Bosso says he’s been interested in wine his entire adult life. He earned his degree in environmental agriculture and later went to work for a winery in Sonoma, California, starting from the barrel up. He first worked as a cellar hand, also known in the industry as a “cellar rat,” but eventually rose to become an assistant wine maker for two wineries in Woodinville.

Now he’s running his own business, buying his grapes from the Konnowac vineyard in the Yakima Valley and turning them into wine in his space in downtown Olympia. So far he has produced two Spanish reds, a Tempranillo and Graciano, and three French reds: Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Syrah. He also has produced a Pinot Gris, his only white wine, but plans to do more, he said.

Bosso said one of his favorite questions to answer is: Why is wine even special?

“My answer is the amount of complexity in wine — the minerality, the earth tones, the fruit types — is not like anything else,” he said.

For more about Endless Sound Cellars, visit the website.

Vic’s Pizzeria, a staple in west Olympia and Olympia’s Wildwood neighbor south of the Capitol, now has a third location on Olympia’s east side at Pacific Avenue and Sawyer Street. The site used to be home to KRXY radio, also known as “Roxy.”

Vic’s Eastside has the same hours as the other locations, although it also is opening at 8 a.m. to serve coffee. It has a full bar and is kid friendly, the business announced on Instagram.

Real estate

Tumwater is getting more mini-storage, according to a notice of application announced by the city.

Liberty Leasing Self Storage intends to construct a 69,150-square-foot self-storage facility with 445 storage units on Old Highway 99 Southeast near the Olympia Airport.

Construction will include associated frontage improvements, parking, infrastructure, utilities and lighting, the city information reads.

The 14-day comment period ends at 5 p.m. Dec. 27. Send comments to Associate Planner Alex Baruch at abaruch@ci.tumwater.wa.us.

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If you know of a retailer, restaurant, coffee shop or other business that is opening, closing, expanding, remodeling, or changing its focus, send an email to reporter Rolf Boone at rboone@theolympian.com.