Anniversary Blog: Rainier Medical is Celebrating 11 Years!

We are so grateful to celebrate the 11th year anniversary of Rainier Medical this June! I thought it would be fun to reflect back on how we got here!

I started practicing primary care Internal Medicine in Tacoma in 2008. Around 2013, medical weight loss was added as a part of my practice. It quickly became very popular with myself and the patients! I wanted to focus my practice on this full-time and offer multiple treatment options available at the time. In 2014, I resigned from my employed position, took out a personal loan, leased an office space, and hung my shingle in a leap of faith! The flagship office was in University Place next to Whole Foods and I was about the second or third business to sign a lease there! It was practically all vacant and we parked on gravel right outside our office! We started scheduling patients on paper before we had our computers going and I was not sure what was going to happen! In June 2015, I opened the doors!  I was so grateful that people came. After that, I opened an office in Puyallup which was hugely popular! I built Rainier Medical Health and Fitness- a state-of-the-art exercise science facility with exercise physiologists, VO2 Max and resting metabolic rate testing, and personal trainers. Offices in Gig Harbor and Federal Way rounded out the physical spaces. 

In 2019, amid Covid, a flood in the University Place office, and life-altering personal changes, I closed the practice and went back to employment in primary care. However, that did not last long at all. After six months, I again resigned and re-opened a physical office, located in our current space on Wollochet Drive in Gig Harbor. I am continually grateful that patients came back to see me and eternally grateful to my sister and practice manager extraordinaire, Melanie Saulsbury, for making it happen with me. Without her, none of this would be possible, and we all know the unique and special ways in which she makes Rainier Medical what it is today!

In 2023, I accepted and began a position to grow medical weight loss in the Inland Northwest. This time, I knew that Rainier Medical had to continue as well. Today, Rainier Medical, like many businesses and practices, has evolved to a hybrid virtual and in person practice. What has NOT changed is the incredible way that the individual patients and their stories make it a beautiful amalgamation of individual health journeys that continues to feed and restore my faith, joy and love of the practice of medicine and the human spirit on a daily basis. 

The future is bright! The healthcare industry has finally embraced the treatment of overweight/obesity. Research is robust on underlying causes, improving treatment options, and finding new ones. I believe the near future holds continued growth of treatment options, improved access and coverage of care, and many more exciting opportunities to come!

Please join us in celebrating YOU and all of the individuals who have made and continue to make Rainier Medical what it is today. We are all working together on this journey of life and health!  

To celebrate, the office will be open to all current and past patients for the month of June to come and do an In-Body and receive a gift bag during open office hours. 

Take Back Your Celebration of the Journey,

Valerie Hope-Slocum Sutherland, MD