BRUNSWICK, Georgia: Jan. 3, 2010–The Georgia Department of Community
Health, Division of Health Planning, has approved Southeast Georgia Health
System’s Certificate of Need (CON) application to establish an Orthopaedic
& Spine Center of Excellence on the third floor of the St. Simons
tower at the Brunswick Campus. The project will begin in January 2011
and is expected to be completed by November 2011, says Gary R. Colberg,
FACHE, Health System President & CEO.
“This project is another step forward in Southeast Georgia Health
System’s plans to continue to expand and improve our services for
the community,” Colberg says. “By reinvesting in our facilities,
we are able to add more services as well as the latest technologies and
treatment options for our patients who then do not have to leave the area
in order to receive the best care possible.”
According to Marjorie A. Mathieu, R.Ph., FACHE, Health System Vice President,
the renovated area will house a new, comprehensive Orthopaedic & Spine
Center of Excellence. “The project will include turning what is
now an empty floor into 31 private rooms which will be used for our new,
comprehensive Orthopaedic and Spine Center of Excellence,” Mathieu
says. “We will move our Joint Replacement Center from our Glynn-Brunswick
tower, where it is currently located, to this new location where we will
also have a rehabilitation gym. The $10.9 million cost of the project
includes extensive construction: mechanical, electrical, and plumbing
systems, humidity control and AC quality control systems, all new windows,
medical gas distribution system, enhanced patient monitoring, security
and access control, nurse call, code blue, and public address systems;
new pneumatic tube system, wireless computer network, telephone system,
wireless clock network as well as furniture and equipment. However, it
does not increase our current licensed bed count of 316.”
J. Melvin Deese, M.D., the Health System’s Medical Director of the
Orthopaedic and Spine Center of Excellence, says he is excited to see
the project get underway. “We are very pleased to get this hurdle
behind us,” Deese says. “The recent recognition as a Top 10
orthopaedic services provider in the state by HealthGrades, the leading
independent health care rating organization, has been an inspiration for
everyone and we are excited about opening our new Orthopaedic and Spine
Center of Excellence.” “The private rooms in the Orthopaedic
& Spine Center of Excellence will resemble the recently renovated
areas of the hospital, which is part of the Health System’s master
plan that also includes upgrading all patient rooms to private rooms,”
Mathieu says. Brassfield & Gorrie General Contractors, the company
that recently completed the renovation and expansion of the Health System’s
Miriam & Hugh Nunnally Maternity Care Center, was awarded the project
and HKS Architects completed the design.