Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville will build a new multistory tower as soon as 2024, adding 150 patient beds, relocating the emergency room and improving access to advanced heart care, officials announced Thursday.
The tower is expected to be located next to the existing North Patient Tower.
“We’ve started referring to our future expansion and improvement projects as ‘Growing the Greater Good,’” Carol Burrell, president and CEO of Northeast Georgia Health System, said in a news release. "That phrase is a reminder that when we grow facilities to care for more patients and expand our clinical services, we’re ultimately reinvesting in the overall health of our region."
The Gainesville hospital's emergency department is one of the busiest in the state. Moving it to the new tower, officials said, would allow from the growing need for emergency and trauma care. The new facility will also create training space for an emergency medicine residency program, which the health system hopes to add in the coming year.
An exact timeline for construction was not announced. It is expected within four years, although officials said the timeline may shift depending on potential changes in the overall healthcare needs of the community. Between 700 and 2,000 workers are expected to be on-site for planning and construction at any given time as the project progresses.
"Any time we add a new building, it’s a new place where we are helping people in many ways – whether it’s providing a new service, creating new jobs or simply lifting the spirits of a community. These projects go way beyond brick and mortar," Burrell said.
Besides relocating the emergency department and adding new patient beds, the new tower is also expected to offer:
- Expanded and convenient access for advanced heart care including general and interventional cardiology, heart failure treatment, electrophysiology, structural heart program, cardiovascular surgery and more
- A new helipad on the roof of the tower, which will mean faster and more efficient access to support life-saving trauma, heart, stroke and surgical care
- More operating rooms to expand available surgeries and procedures to treat complex stroke, neurosurgery, cancer and vascular cases
- A parking deck with hundreds of new parking spaces for patients and visitors
- The ability to care for more patients while also creating an opportunity for future renovation of the South Tower
“We have a team that’s evaluating ways to improve how we move patients through the hospital more efficiently, while maintaining high-quality care that will get them back home to their loved ones as quickly as possible,” Michael Covert, NGHS chief operating officer, said. “That includes reducing wait times in all parts of a patient’s journey, often starting with the Emergency Department.”
