Want to be in Olympia, but need Seattle Children's Hospital (Tacoma: house prices, neighborhoods)

[gogabe]

Last year we had started researching a move from Texas to Washington. The Olympia area was our first choice. This past summer our youngest son was diagnosed with brain cancer and is currently in treatment with an excellent prognosis. If we make this move in a couple of years, we'll only have to fly to Houston for check-ups twice a year. But we would still like and need fairly easy access to a great pediatric cancer/survivor program. Seattle Children's Hospital seems like a great hospital.

It's hard to get a sense of distance in Washington after living in Texas. Does this rule out living in Olympia? At this point I just don't know how often we would need to go to Seattle. Occasionally it could be a couple of times a week. If there was an emergency, how are Olympia's hospitals? I'm wondering if we would just be smarter moving to the Seattle area?

[Inkpoe]

Olympia is directly an hour south of Seattle. An hour with no traffic. I can't speak for Olympia's hospitals, but if they don't have the resources to take of your son-- you can bet they will send the emergency transport to a bigger hospital (via ambulance or if they have it, helicopter).

We have lots of great Hospitals; University of Washington hospital, Harborview, Swedish-- these are all in Seattle DT area. Valley Medical Center is also great, and located in the Renton area. Tacoma (20-30 mins north of Olympia) has St. Joseph's Medical center. If you are military, Fort Lewis (Tacoma) has the Madigan Medical ctr. There's many more smaller hospitals, hospital branches, clinics within 60 miles of Seattle.

If you're fine with at least driving 1hr and 15mins to the Seattle Children's hospital, then no it shouldn't rule out Olympia. Also keep in mind, the Seattle Children's hospital is close to the University, so you'll have to deal with the student traffic as well.

Is there a particular reason why you would like to move to Olympia?

[nwcountrygal]

Seattle is by the best for hosipitals when dealing with this. My friend in Spanaway Yelm area delted with his son with brain cancer when nine months old ... They did fine going back and forth and then you can get housing when during major treatments. If your not doing traffic it is close but again why choosing Olympia other than price??

[scirocco22]

For emergencies, the primary hospital in the Olympia area has, from what I hear, an excellent oncology department in general. The regional cancer center at Providence St. Peter (http://www.providence.org/prdopportunities/Profile_stpeter_olympia_wa.htm - broken link) serves a five county area and is located a few miles north of downtown Olympia on Lily Road, in between Olympia and Lacey.

In addition, Mary Bridge Children's Hospital offers inpatient care at Providence St. Peters. Mary Bridge itself is located in Tacoma and has a children's oncology program. It will be half the distance to Seattle or about 30-miles or approximately 30-minutes from Olympia. You may want to check them out too.

[cabocurtis]

Childrens has a excellent reputation and being close to the University of Washington puts the region at the forefront of innovation in health care. I like Olympia but the drive in non rush hour is 1.25 hours each way and can be 2 plus hours each way in rush hour. In additon in the not too distant future the Alaska Way viaduct will be replaced with a tunnel making the commute from the south worse. But if pricing of homes was not the issue it would be beneficial to live in North Seattle. Sandpoint and Laurelhurst are two great neighborhoods and have some of the best public schools in Seattle. These neighborhoods are close to Childrens but also have access to Burke Gilman bike and walk trail, Magnuson Park at Sandpoint and lake Washington.

[gogabe]

Thanks for the great replies. I'll start researching the various hospitals. I've also started looking at the Edmonds to Bothell area as a possibility as well. We loved Edmonds and the house prices seem better.

As for why Olympia (besides lower house prices)... we live in a small town (10,000 pop.) about 40 minutes from the nearest city (150,000 pop.). We moved there from Dallas, after having lived in Houston as well. Right now we have 5 acres just outside of town. We're not looking for another property with acreage (maybe 1/2 an acre to an acre, but maybe not). Olympia seems to offer a nice-sized city with plenty to do, beauty, great Farmer's Market, etc. without the sense of urban/suburban sprawl I get from Seattle and all the surrounding area. We've kind of gotten used to not having to deal with all the traffic on a daily basis. I like the idea of the more "rural" areas of Olympia. We have family in Kirkland (one of the reasons for the move) and love to visit. We drove around Olympia this past summer as we came back from a few days on the Olympic Peninsula.

Having said all that about traffic, etc., we're living right now in the heart of Houston, the Texas Medical Center area. I'm kind of liking the big city vibe, the museums, great grocery stores, shopping, etc. Maybe this medical experience is acclimating us for the thick of Seattle!

[Ekilgore]

As far as Olympia is concerned, it is the Capital so it is a bigger city, but at the same time it has a great suburb feel to it. It is 59 miles from Olympia to Seattle so it would be about an hour to get to Childrens Hospital. Childrens Hospital is one of the best hospitals in the country! There is definitely an abundance of traffic and rain, but on the flip side, you get the mountains, clean rivers, clear lakes, the Pacific Ocean beaches (which are rocky not sandy) and great places to just be with nature. I live in Tyler Texas right now and I know the difference in this area compared to Washington because I grew up in Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia area for 35 years. I have been here in Texas for five years and my husband and I are going to move to Oregon or Washington this summer. I can't wait to get back to the Pacific Northwest! Good Luck in the move and with your little son. God Bless!









mod interpose: clarification-- although the distance from downtown Olympia to downtown Seattle may be 59 miles, to Children's Hospital from the Olympia area is almost 70 miles. There is also going to be a distinct possibility that you won't be able to average 60 MPH as you will be traveling through some very congested areas. So, unless you are driving in the middle of the night when there is no traffic, you have to allow at least an hour and a half or more for that trip.

[Ekilgore]

Edmonds is nice and so is the Bothel/Kirkland area. I lived in Bothel and Kirkland when I was a kid and I still have great memories from that area! Both are clean areas and Kirklandis near the water and close to the Seahawks training camp. Kirkland also has great parks down on the water and a great Boys and Girls Club program! Bothel is more wooded and Suburbian as far as I remember but that is a great place to live too.