One of the fastest-growing areas of Chattanooga will gain a 24-hour hospital emergency department and more imaging and surgical services next year when Erlanger Health System expands its Erlanger East hospital.
Erlanger plans to invest $15.2 million to upgrade its East Brainerd facility in the next year to serve a part of town projected to grow nearly twice as fast as the Chattanooga region as a whole over the next five years. Erlanger’s budget committee endorsed plans Monday night to sell two of its physician office buildings off Gunbarrel Road to fund most of the cost of the hospital addition.
“The sale of these office buildings will help finance this project, which we believe is needed to respond to the long waiting times and the growth in the demand for emergency services,” said Joe Winick, Erlanger’s senior vice president of strategic planning. “Emergency departments are overcrowded, and it’s likely to get worse.”
The urgent care facility at Erlanger East now treats about 20,000 patients a year. The 24-hour emergency department is projected to receive 35,000 visits a year once completed in September 2011.
Erlanger East also will add a $1.4 million DaVinci Surgical Robot and two more operating rooms – plus space for a third in the future – to expand both its inpatient and outpatient surgeries.