New Polk Medical Center opens doors to public
Medical offices at hospital open today following move
Well before the sun came up over Polk County, a historic change was made as one hospital closed and a new facility opened its doors.
The new Polk Medical Center on U.S. Highway 278 and Kelley Road is now up and running, and according to hospital administrator Matt Gorman, all went well during the morning move on Nov. 6.
Medical offices attached to the new facility opened Friday following the hospital move.
“It’s been a long time coming, there has been a lot of people who have worked really hard to help make this hospital a reality,” Gorman said. “Just to be here and be treating patients here is the realization of a lot of effort and a lot of hard work.”
Morning rain showers didn’t dampen the spirits of hospital officials eager to get into the new space. Nursing director Charmaine Thomas said the move was done flawlessly, with hospital personnel at both facilities until the patient transfer was completed.
“We actually had a very detailed move plan, and we’ve been looking at it for quite a while,” she said. “We had old hospital staffed to make sure there’s someone until the last patient is out of the ER, and we had to have staff here to make sure they were cared for once moved and got into a bed.”
Gorman said the new hospital is up and running, but it will still take some time before every service is up and running at the hospital. Two new surgical suites at Polk Medical Center are among those services to start on Dec. 17.
“We have a lot of big things still planned. Dr. Gordon and his office are moving in here soon, for instance,” Gorman said. “Today was a big day but there’s still more good things to come.”
The new 65,000 square- foot facility will be run by Floyd Medical Center after they signed a 35year lease on the hospital with the Polk-Cedartown Hospital Authority.
Movers didn’t have much to pack up during the switchover, Gorman said.
A few pieces of equipment, including the medication cabinet and the digital mammography system, are also making the switchover.
“Just about everything we have in the hospital is new, so only those few major items we’ve purchased over the past year or two will be coming along,” Gorman said.
In addition to a 12-room expandable emergency room, the new $40 million, 25-bed hospital features a new surgical program with two state-ofthe-art operating rooms and a dedicated women’s diagnostic center.
Additionally, the complex includes a helipad and a 23,000-square-foot medical office building, featuring physician offices and outpatient services, including physical therapy and cardiac rehab.
The construction, called the largest health care investment in Polk County history, remained on schedule, despite what officials describe as a challenging winter.
“I just can’t say enough about the job our architects, project manage- ment and construction teams did,” said Kurt Stuenkel, president and CEO of Floyd Medical Center. “Who could have anticipated not one, but two significant winter storms? In spite of that, we opened the doors right on time. That’s a pretty amazing feat.”
Though the signs outside the old Polk Medical Center are now covered with “One Door Polk Coming Soon” announcements, the city has not yet officially taken ownership of the building.
“An official date has not yet been set for the city to take ownership of the building formerly occupied by Polk Medical Center,” said Aimee Madden, public information officer for the City of Cedartown. “Currently, officials are aiming for a early January date, but again, that is a projection and is not set in stone.”
The old Polk Medical Center near downtown Cedartown is set to become a facility housing education, social services and medical offices, along with the new 911 emergency operations center for Polk County.