Staff File Photo by Tim Barber
Francisco Anaya, right, finishes drywall as site superintendant Tim Phillips looks at the progress of an examining room inside Memorial medical facility in Ooltewah.WHAT MAKES US SPECIALErlanger hospital, a Level 1 trauma center and regional stroke centerNew pelvic floor center at Parkridge Medical CenterRegional heart center at Memorial HospitalNew interventional cardiac catheterization program at Hutcheson Medical CenterNew planned radiosurgery programs at Erlanger and MemorialHOSPITALS STILL GROWINGDespite economic woes and a statewide slowdown in large-scale projects, hospitals in the region are working to add services, medical advances and equipment.
Staff File Photo by Tim Barber
Memorial's new Ooltewah medical complex is under construction on Mountain View Road.Despite economic woes and a statewide slowdown in large-scale projects, hospitals in the Chattanooga region are working to add services, medical advances and equipment.
As part of a three-year plan launched in 2009 to combat heart disease, Hutcheson Medical Center in Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., added a $1.7 million cardiac catheterization lab, which can provide images of a patient's blood vessels. The hospital also received state approval to perform interventional cardiac procedures, such as placing of a stent in blocked arteries, in addition to the diagnostic procedures it now performs.
Hutcheson also has plans to create a new wound treatment center that will include hyperbaric oxygen treatment chambers, President and CEO Charles Stewart said in a news release.
Erlanger hospital purchased the CyberKnife robotic radiosurgery equipment that can treat complex tumors previously considered inoperable. In January the hospital announced that Volkswagen accepted the hospital's bid for a three-year contract to provide medical services to more than 2,000 employees of the automaker's Chattanooga plant.
This spring Memorial Hospital will acquire a Novalis TX, a noninvasive radiosurgery treatment system that has 3-D imaging and versatile treatment capabilities. The system's targeted radiation can be aimed in a pinpointed, precise beam or over a broader swath of the body, depending on the area to be treated, said Dr. David Rice, radiation oncologist at the hospital.
Memorial also plans to complete work in June on a $20 million imaging, outpatient and medical complex in Ooltewah.
"The whole center is brand new and is the forerunner of future development on the site," said Dr. Don Mills, medical director and chief of radiology, in an e-mail.
Parkridge Medical Center improved its electronic medical records capabilities with a new kind of system that allows doctors to remotely review or even sign medical records from their office or home. In addition to renovations to a number of common areas and patient rooms, the hospital added a new cardiac cath lab, gastrointestinal equipment and established a new pelvic floor center.
Parkridge East added a digital mammography unit and completed renovations to the neonatal intensive care unit, the labor and delivery unit, the nursery and some common areas and waiting rooms.
Last summer SkyRidge Medical Center in Bradley County opened a new 108,000-square-foot building that houses a 41-bed emergency department and eight new surgical suites. The facility, part of a $45 million capital investment project, includes an 18-bed outpatient surgery center and 10-bed intensive care unit.
Hamilton Medical Center in Dalton, Ga., in late 2009 purchased the da Vinci surgical robot that can perform minimally invasive, robot-assisted surgeries. The hospital also added a primary care center that can be an alternative to the emergency room for nonemergencies, officials said.
"The number of family practice physicians has declined in both the region and the state, forcing patients to seek alternatives to traditional primary care," said Sandy McKenzie, vice president of Hamilton Medical Center, in a news release.