Coast River Business Journal

For years, specialized health care has been a concern on the North Coast. To find a specialist in most medical fields or to receive diagnostic tests, residents have traveled out of the area to facilities as far away as Portland or Seattle.

But these days there’s a sea change in medical care happening in Clatsop County that seems set to alter the future of doctoring on the coast.

One of the most obvious manifestations of that change is the new, expanded Park Medical Building, opening this month across from Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria.

Locals have watched the construction site with curiosity over the past two years, as the brick building slowly doubled in size. Recently, tantalizing signs have appeared on the outside walls heralding the advent of urgent care and diagnostic imaging services.

While the signs are intriguing, it turns out that those services are just the tip of the iceberg — two among a plethora of medical options that will be housed in the expanded Park building. In fact, the building’s opening represents something of a population explosion of doctors practicing medicine in Astoria.

Siker Medical Imaging and Intervention is one of the businesses whose signs appear on the Park Building. The Portland-based company, run by Dr. David Siker, specializes in diagnostic medical services.

It’s a business whose name may already be familiar to coast residents, whose doctors have referred them to the company’s Portland facilities. The Astoria clinic is about to begin offering those services here.

Sean Callaghan is director of operations for Siker. He said the Astoria center has been more than two years in planning and development. Callaghan uses terms like "world class" and "state-of-the-art" to describe what Siker will offer area doctors and patients. He cites a dizzying array of services: MRI, CT, ultrasound, X-Ray, echocardiogram and stress tests, advanced breast imaging, MRA (magnetic resonance angiograph,) stroke and aneurism screening — the list goes on.

Callaghan is particularly proud of the MRI scanner, which he refers to as a 3 Tesla (3T) machine, the first of its kind on the coast.

"The quality and clarity possible with this technology far exceeds other MRI scanners most often used by hospitals and outpatient centers," he said, explaining that those facilities usually have lower strength, less expensive 1.5 Tesla machines, which are half the strength of the 3T. "This is the most expensive and sensitive equipment available and it doesn’t cost the patient a penny more than less capable systems."

Medical Imaging Magazine, a monthly radiology trade publication, gives 3T MRI equipment high marks for speed and superior image resolution. A 2006 article about 3T imaging technology said that in one study of patients with brain tumors, the extreme clarity of the images enabled surgeons to improve their surgical approach to patients, because they could see tumors more clearly.

Callaghan said Siker’s top-notch complement of radiologists and a radiography technologist will run the Astoria branch, under the direction of Dr. Siker.

"In fact," Callaghan said, "this facility will be the only place on the Oregon coast to offer 3T breast MRI, arguably the most advanced and sensitive diagnostic imaging for the early detection of breast cancer."

Siker Imaging recently hosted a lunch presentation at the Duncan Law Seafood Center in Astoria, for an audience of local medical professionals. Dr. Siker showed an impressive PowerPoint presentation of medical scans made with the same equipment that will soon be available at the Astoria branch.

One futuristic image after another showed crisp, color images of various internal organs that could be rotated 360 degrees on the screen. Some were in video form, to allow doctors to better observe the body in motion and over time, as an aid in assessing treatment.

"It’s awesome equipment but that’s just the starting point for us," Siker said. "3T [technology] requires a tremendous amount of care and expertise."

Siker said as imaging technology continues to evolve, the result will be more accurate and less invasive testing methods for patients. He said when Siker Medical opens in Astoria toward the end of the month, the center will start out offering CT scans and MRI services first, and will add others later.

"We’ll ramp up to add modalities so everything is running smoothly," he said.

Siker said the idea to open the new office came from the medical community in Astoria several years ago.

"Dr. Sonny Park and a group of other doctors talked to us about opening a center because they were not happy with the imaging here," he said, adding that the expansion was more than just a business decision. "I really like the area. So it was part numbers and part gut."

Astoria physician Dr. Sonny Park owns the Park Medical Building; the original structure was built 10 years ago. He said he’s invested $20 million in the project.

"What this building will do is provide specialty care in a community where none existed before," Park said. "I’m just trying to do something helpful for the community."

Callaghan said Siker also saw a real need on the coast for his firm’s services, whereas other locations inland like Salem and Eugene already have an overabundance of imaging clinics.

Siker Medical Imaging will begin offering CT and ultrasound services in Astoria on May 19. MRI services will be available starting May 27.

Urgent care clinics offer a less expensive alternative to the emergency room for people who need help right away, and may or may not have a regular physician or health insurance.

Urgent care seems to be appearing with more frequency in coastal communities. Among area options: Seaside has a clinic, Columbia Memorial Hospital opens one this month in their new CMH Health and Wellness Pavilion, and Urgent Care NW — Astoria debuts this month in the Park building.

The Astoria clinic is a branch of Gresham Urgent Care, which has operated for 15 years.

Dr. Keith Klatt will offer services to patients; his wife Mary is the project manager for the clinic.

Dr Klatt said they are hiring local people to staff the clinic.

"Astoria is a great market for urgent care," he said, adding that he thought there would be enough patients to support all of the urgent care centers in the area. "Astoria needs this to continue growing."

He said having Siker Medical and a medical testing lab right in the building will be a boon for his urgent care patients who need imaging services and other tests.

The clinic accepts most insurance policies, and patients without insurance are welcome, too. Those who can pay in full at the time of service get a 20 percent discount.

Klatt anticipates opening the UrgentCareNW — Astoria clinic on May 26. The clinic will be open 7 days a week from noon to 9 p.m.