Event planned to support hospital
An event called #StandDownParkridge will be held Wednesday, May 25, to protest Parkridge Health System’s attempts to halt construction of a new hospital in Catoosa County.
“The state of Georgia recently approved CHI Memorial’s certificate of need to build a new hospital in Catoosa County to serve north Georgia,” Catoosa County Public Information Officer John Pless said. “However, we understand Parkridge Health System (based in Chattanooga) plans to file a last-minute appeal by May 31. This could delay the project for years, or even cause CHI Memorial to cancel their plans altogether.”
The event will begin at 5 p.m. at 4700 Battlefield Parkway in Ringgold.
Parkridge Health System, which operates two hospitals in neighboring Hamilton County (Tenn.), wants the state of Georgia to stop construction of the new hospital, in part, on the grounds that it would duplicate services already being provided by existing hospitals. Parkridge’s hospitals are both less than 8 miles from the location of CHI Memorial’s proposed new hospital.
CHI’s current hospital building in Fort Oglethorpe, called CHI Memorial Hospital Georgia and located at 100 Gross Crescent Circle, is nearly 70 years old, with some portions of the hospital dating back to 1904.
The new hospital, which will also be called CHI Memorial Hospital Georgia but located at 4750 Battlefield Parkway in Ringgold, will replace the Fort Oglethorpe facility.
The $130 million-plus hospital will feature stateof-the-art inpatient beds, including an intensive care unit (ICU), a full-service emergency department, and operating rooms and procedural suites. Plans include 64 medical/surgical beds, an emergency department
with support services and related on-site infrastructure.
The new hospital will connect to the current CHI Memorial Rees Skillern Cancer Center and CHI Memorial
Parkway medical office building on Battlefield Parkway, creating a single campus and establishing a central location for inpatient and outpatient services.
Construction of the new hospital is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2022, with a targeted completion date of mid-2024.