July 24, 2020 – When driving down Parkwood Drive, people can’t
help but notice the ongoing construction at the Southeast Georgia Health
System Brunswick Campus. One of the most ambitious construction projects
in the Health System’s history, the
master renovation and construction project includes more than 70,000 square feet of new construction and more than
100,000 square feet of renovations, including a new surgical services
and inpatient tower and renovated
Emergency Care Center. The project will help to ensure the Brunswick hospital can continue to
meet the health care needs as the communities it serves grow and patient
volumes increase.
Since the start of the project in 2018, construction has steadily progressed.
One of the most critical elements of the construction project is the Emergency
Care Center (ECC) expansion. Scheduled for completion in the summer of
2021, the addition of 12,000 square feet will allow for 15 more exam/treatment
rooms, bringing the total to 50. However, to ensure the community continues
to have access to emergency care services during construction, the expansion
is taking place in phases.
In 2019, a new ambulance entrance opened leading directly to two new trauma
rooms, exam room and nurses’ station. Crews also installed a new,
state-of-the-art computerized tomography (CT) scanner to provide quick
access for trauma and stroke patients.
In June 2020, crews completed the most recent phase: a nine-bed fast-track
area designed to provide quick care for those with less severe injuries,
thereby allowing staff to easily separate patients who are acutely ill
from those who are less sick.
“The new space is modernized in both aesthetics and technology,” says
Stanford “Tripp” O. Stephens III, vice president, Southeast Georgia Health System. “It features nine
additional exam rooms, two triage locations, a results-pending area and
an x-ray room that will allow for faster scans and more effective, timely
treatment.”
The next ECC expansion phase will include a new main entrance and reception
area. From the new parking area, patients will enter directly into the
renovated ECC instead of through the temporary entrance used for the past
eighteen months. That phase is on track to be complete in mid-August.
“This renovation is a huge improvement to our hospital and the resulting
care we’ll be able to provide the community,” says
Mohsen M. Akhlaghi, M.D., FACEP, FAAEM, Department of Emergency Medicine Chief, Southeast Georgia
Health System. “I’ve always been proud to work for the Health
System, but even more so now. We have the space and technology to better
care for the growing population in our county and surrounding areas. This
facelift is exactly what ourEmergency Care Center needed and deserved.”