Medical incredible
Union General Hospital impresses the crowds
By JARED PUTNAM

The new face of Union General Hospital.

The new, improved Union General Hospital was officially unveiled over weekend, showcasing a facility that is designed to meet the needs of Union County and the surrounding area. In addition to a new 80,000 square ft. expansion, the hospital has added a significant amount of top of the line equipment, and will renovate the older portion of the building. All of these changes add up to a $34 million expansion that turns Union General Hospital into a state of the art medical facility that offers services which often cannot be found outside of metropolitan

Prior to Sunday's open house the Union Sentinel was invited to be part of a private tour of the new facility, put on by Mountain Community Healthcare Foundation, a relatively new foundation formed by Union General Hospital and Chatuge Regional Hospital to aid in fundraising that will support both hospitals. Foundation Coordinator Leslie Daniel said that the hope is that the community will want to keep its donations at home where people can see what their money is going for. "We hope that people will really care about healthcare and [have a desire to improve it.] It's a good way for the community to come together to support healthcare."

The operating room.

Formed in 1959, Union General Hospital was named Georgia Rural Hospital of the Year 2001. The older portion of the facility will now undergo a number of changes that include incorporating rehab services into the main facility and the addition a physicians lounge.

The new facility has a very modern feel, complete with wood floors and a design that goes away from the white, sterile feel of a hospital. Guests on the tour complimented the design, saying that the facility felt almost like a hotel.

But make no mistake, the new additions go far beyond cosmetic changes.

The new emergency room has 11 rooms and 14 beds, a significant jump from the 4 ER rooms the hospital did have. Overall patient care remains roughly the same, with a total of 40 regular patient rooms and 5 intensive care unit rooms. This aspect of the hospital did not change due to the average occupancy rate, however, the foundation was built so that the hospital could add another floor in the future if needed.

A room that can be used for ICU patients.

The hospital also bought all new monitoring equipment, including new ICU equipment that monitors patients' vital signs. Additionally, all new patient beds and furniture don each room. Every bed has a scale that allows hospital staff to press a button to weigh the patient. The beds can even be programmed so that if a patient gets out of bed, the nurse's station will be alerted. This is particularly useful in a case where there is a greater risk of a patient getting out of bed and falling.

A new type of closed MRI is another new addition to the facility. While it is not an open MRI, this new short board machine is not as deep, meaning a patients entire body is not inside the canal. This machine is less claustrophobic as well as much quicker.

The hospital has also added the Hugs infant protection system to its' new nursery. This system

works by placing a band on the leg or arm of a baby. If an unauthorized individual attempts to take a baby out of the appropriate area, an alarm goes off triggering a lockdown of the doors and elevators. "That's an important thing," said Daniel, "to know that your child is safe when it is not with you."

Mountain Community Healthcare Foundation Coordinator Leslie Daniel with a guest.

One new addition that the hospital is particularly proud of is the new equipment in the radiology department. "We implemented P.A.C.S. (picture archiving and communications system)," which takes digital x-rays, said Mike Gowder, Assistant Administrator of Union General Hospital. "A lot of hospitals don't have that yet. We still print films out right now, but in the near future we will not routinely print films. We can actually let a physician [in another area] into our system over the internet and consult with our physicians here within minutes from when it is taken."

By bringing these many state of the art services to this area, the hospital hopes to essentially eliminate the need to go out of the area for many medical needs. "We didn't buy low end equipment, it is all state of the art," said Gowder. "It is a huge expense but it is also a huge step forward." Added Daniel, "There's no real reason for anybody, diagnostically, to go anywhere besides here."

A nurse's station. The waiting area for the surgical unit. This hallway serves as a good example of the new, modern look of the hospital. The laboratory. A 40-slice CT scanner. A new type of closed MRI. The nurses' station in the emergency room. Digital mammography equipment. A trauma room.