Seattle,

With a national reputation for its diagnostic and treatment facilities, which include more free clinics than in any other West Coast city, Seattle-King County is the health care center for the Pacific Northwest. The metropolitan area offers 26 general acute-care and five special purpose centers providing thousands of beds and physicians. University of Washington Hospital is the teaching hospital for the University of Washington. Among its other leading health care institutions are Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Virginia Mason Medical Center, and Swedish Medical Center. Bailey-Boushay House, a residence where people with HIV can be treated less expensively than at traditional centers, has provided over a decade of life-changing care. The Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center is the only cancer center in the Pacific Northwest where medical oncologists work side by side with practitioners of alternative medicine.