The new year will bring a new name.

Enumclaw Community Hospital will become Enumclaw Regional Hospital effective Sunday, according to Dennis Popp, hospital administrator.

&#8220Changing the name to ‘Regional' reflects our desire to emphasize the hospital's broad service area,” Popp said. &#8220We want residents in the region to identify with the hospital that is the nearest and most convenient for diagnostic and treatment services.”

The name change does not reflect any desire to pull away from the hospital's local roots.

&#8220The name ‘Enumclaw' is still core to the organization's name and identifies where the facility is located since its 1949 opening. ‘Hospital' defines what the organization provides in traditional health services spanning a broad range of ambulatory and inpatient serves, including obstetrics and emergency care, plus an expanding range of imaging, laboratory and disease prevention programs,” Popp said.

According to Popp, the hospital has long served people in the primary geographical area of Black Diamond, Buckley, Carbonado, Cumberland, Enumclaw, Orting, Ravensdale, South Prairie, Wilkeson and the surrounding areas encompassing more than 140 square miles in southeast King and northeast Pierce counties. The secondary service area includes the extensive county regions stretching into the Cascade Mountains. &#8220The hospital's continuing goal is to provide quality care that is close to home for these growing areas,” Popp noted. &#8220The hospital's board of directors believes that the timing is perfect to make the name change as we prepare to build a new facility, which we anticipate opening in late 2007.”

Enumclaw Regional Hospital remains a non-profit and charitable organization as organized in the mid-1940s by local citizens desiring convenient and progressive hospital services. Dedicated to the memory of the 60 individuals from Enumclaw, Buckley and Black Diamond who gave their lives in World War I and World War II, the hospital officially opened June 15, 1949.

In 2001, the hospital was recognized as one of the nation's Top 100 Hospitals. In 2004, the hospital became a Level V Trauma emergency center that is included in the central region (King County) emergency medical services and Washington state EMS program. It is the only Level V trauma center in King County and the only trauma center south of a major event venue (White River Amphitheatre). ERH was awarded the designation prior to being named a Critical Access Hospital by the Department of Health and federal government.