The new hospital tower will make the Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center the first fully electric hospital in Oregon. Being fully electric will reduce the carbon footprint of the facility while limiting the amount of fossil fuels burned, resulting in improved air quality in the immediate vicinity of the hospital.
“Since opening its doors in 1975, Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center has been a center of care excellence and innovation, where our doctors, nurses, and staff save lives, bring new lives into the world, and help patients navigate everything from minor procedures to the most complex heart surgeries,” said Wendy Watson, regional president of Kaiser Permanente of the Northwest. “This significant upgrade to our campus will take us into the future of health care, where we look forward to providing leading-edge, compassionate care to our community for the next 50 years and beyond.”
Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center opened in 1975 and turns 50 in 2025. It plays a vital role in the health of the Portland metro community. Annually, Sunnyside Medical Center’s 2,300 doctors, nurses, and health care professionals provide care for tens of thousands of patient visits, perform thousands of surgeries, and deliver on average more than 2,000 babies.
Sunnyside is also home to Kaiser Permanente’s regional centers for neurosurgery and adult cancer care; a Level III neonatal intensive care unit; and the Kaiser Permanente Northwest Center for Heart and Vascular Care. In February 2025, Sunnyside Medical Center was recognized as the only hospital in Oregon and Washington to achieve the America’s 50 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery Award for 10 years in a row from Healthgrades. The Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside campus also includes three medical offices that provide medical and specialty care, in addition to pharmacy and imaging services and the Brookside Center for residential mental health and addiction medicine treatment. These offices and services are not part of the construction project.
When the new hospital tower is open, Kaiser Permanente plans to replace the current tower with additional parking, walkways, and outdoor spaces.
Sunnyside Medical Center is 1 of 2 Kaiser Permanente hospitals that serve Oregon and Southwest Washington; the other is Kaiser Permanente Westside Medical Center in Hillsboro, Oregon, which opened in 2013.