If you live in Snohomish, you probably know the feeling. You need to see a doctor, get an X-ray, schedule a mammogram, or find a specialist, and suddenly you are looking at a drive across the county just to get the care you need.
EvergreenHealth Monroe is hoping to change that.
There is a lot happening with healthcare in our area right now, and one of the biggest changes is happening right here in Snohomish. EvergreenHealth Monroe is turning the former Bartell Drugs space into a new 30 exam room clinic, bringing primary care, urgent care, 3D mammography, X ray services, and a laboratory draw station much closer to home. The new clinic is expected to open in May 2027.
For Lisa LaPlante, Chief Administrative Officer at EvergreenHealth Monroe, the new clinic is really about listening to what local residents have been asking for.
“We heard loud and clear that we needed to have a presence in Snohomish,” LaPlante said. “It’s taken a while, but here we are.”
The space that once held pharmacy shelves is being completely reworked into a healthcare facility, with 30 exam rooms, each requiring its own sink and the infrastructure needed to support patient care. The clinic is expected to have seven to eight primary care providers, including family medicine and internal medicine, as well as about five urgent care providers.
One thing that makes the new clinic especially interesting is its flexibility. The exam rooms can be used for either primary care or urgent care depending on what people need on any given day. That means EvergreenHealth Monroe can adjust how the space is used as Snohomish grows and healthcare needs change.
The new clinic will also make some of those routine healthcare tasks a whole lot easier. Patients will have access to 3D mammography and X ray services for urgent care needs. There will also be a laboratory draw station connected directly to the full service lab at EvergreenHealth Monroe. Most lab work will be processed through Monroe, with results available to patients through MyChart.
And Snohomish is not the only place where EvergreenHealth Monroe is adding more options.
In Monroe, EvergreenHealth has continued expanding specialty care, adding services such as neurology, ENT, and heart care, along with additional specialists. The idea is pretty simple: if you need a specialist, you should not automatically have to leave the area to find one.
“We want care to be close to home,” LaPlante said. “Anything we can do to keep people within their community is our goal.”
That matters even more as Snohomish County continues to grow. Since 2022, EvergreenHealth Monroe has seen a 50 percent increase in unique patients, meaning many more people who had never previously received care there are now coming through the doors.
With more people comes more need, and EvergreenHealth Monroe is looking at what the area will need not just today, but years from now.
EvergreenHealth Monroe is also planning for a new replacement hospital on its existing campus, designed to better serve a growing population while keeping care available throughout construction. As the only full service hospital between here and Wenatchee, making sure EvergreenHealth Monroe can continue meeting the needs of patients, families, travelers, and the growing number of people who call this area home is increasingly important. EvergreenHealth Monroe is part of a public hospital district, which means the hospital is community owned. That makes this not just a plan for a new building, but an investment in the future of healthcare for the people it serves.
Healthcare is not just about buildings, exam rooms, or equipment. It is about the mom who can get her mammogram without driving across the county. It is about finding a primary care provider close to home. It is about getting urgent care when you need it, seeing a specialist without rearranging your entire day, and knowing there is a hospital nearby when something more serious happens.
That is the kind of future EvergreenHealth Monroe is working toward in Snohomish County, one where more people can get the care they need without having to go so far to find it.
And the community has a part in it, too. As new services come to Snohomish and Monroe continues to grow, residents are encouraged to stay connected, ask questions, share feedback, and speak up about what they need from their local healthcare system.
Because the future of healthcare here is not being built somewhere far away. It is being built right here, for the people who live here.
So the next time you hear about EvergreenHealth expanding in our area, take a look at what is being added and how it might make your own healthcare a little easier. You may find that the care you have been driving across the county to find is finally coming a whole lot closer to home.
New Location: The former Bartell Drugs building in the Safeway Shopping Plaza at 13th Street and Avenue D. The new location is set to open in May 2027.
Learn More: Visit evergreenhealth.com to learn more about services, providers, specialists, and locations.
Have a question, comment, or suggestion about healthcare in our community? Contact EvergreenHealth or email Patient Relations at patientrep@evergreenhealthcare.org.
“We want care to be close to home. Anything we can do to keep people within their community is our goal.”