Hospital

Long said that “from the outside looking in” it is hard to realize how hard it has been to bring the hospital back to life. Entering into a management agreement can accelerate that process.

“This allows us the opportunity to deepen the synergy between CHI Memorial and Cornerstone,” she said.

Both hospitals in this new partnership have served the tristate region for more than three decades: Memorial opened its doors in January 1952 and Cornerstone was founded as Tri-County Hospital the following year.

Memorial was operated by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth until joining Catholic Health Initiatives in 1997.

Tri-County’s name was changed to Hutcheson Medical Center in 1985, something that continued until, facing financial collapse, it became Erlanger at Hutcheson in November 2011. After a few years, the hospital’s board terminated its management agreement with Erlanger Medical Center, reverted to the Hutcheson name and sought bankruptcy protection.

Cornerstone’s parent company, ValorBridge, acquired the Fort Oglethorpe campus in December 2015, completing its purchase in June 2016. Since the acquisition, Cornerstone has maintained an ER and a small number of hospital beds that are primarily used by patients from nearby Parkside nursing home.

What additional services Memorial’s management deal will offer — and how soon — is unknown at present.

“We have a lot still to determine as to what we can and should do,” Schumacher said. “We have been meeting the acute care needs at the Glenwood hospital — people migrated to Memorial — and this will create a chance to offer providers based on need and volume.”

Part of the process now underway is assessing what is needed locally. The result might be similar in some ways to how CHI Memorial operates the former North Park Hospital and has offices for many of its specialists at that Hixson facility’s adjacent medical office complex.

Schumacher said people are welcoming CHI Memorial’s physicians and services and that he sees the hospital’s role as a “vibrant ministry” that is part of an overall community.

“We want to meet the health care needs of the region,” he said. “We intend to provide care and services close to patients’ homes.”

He said Memorial’s cardiologists already are active at the former Hutcheson on the Parkway and a pediatric services will be brought to that area this fall. And all will work in concert with all CHI Memorial facilities and now with Cornerstone.

“This hospital is a special place to this community,” Long said. “We intend for it to remain so for years and years to come.”