December 19, 2014 - Nacogdoches Medical Center (NMC) announced the doors to the Center Emergency Department will be open to the public starting at 8am, Monday, December 22, 2014 which is 528 days since the closure of Shelby Regional Medical Center (SRMC).
SRMC closed its doors at noon on Thursday, July 11, 2013 by orders of Dr. Tariq Mahmood, the owner. Just over a week later Nacogdoches Medical Center announced July 19, 2013 its intentions to build a free standing ER and Imaging Center in Shelby County at the intersection of Hwy. 96 and Loop 500.
Thursday, December 18, 2014 invited guests attended a press conference and meet and greet in front of the new emergency and imaging center. Clay Ferrell, the Operating Officer at Nacogdoches Medical Center, said, "Welcome everyone to the Center Emergency Department" and recognized several people for their support and assistance over the past year. Those recognized included Pam Phelps, Executive Director of the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce; Rick Campbell, Shelby County Judge; David Chadwick, Mayor of the City of Center; Chad Nehring, Manager of the City of Center and then members of Nacogdoches Medical Center Governing Board who were present at the event.
Francis Spruiell, Nacogdoches Medical Center Governing Board Chairman and a Shelby County resident, took to the podium saying, "I cannot think of a better Christmas gift for this community than this facility right here." She thanked the staff and management at Nacogdoches Medical Center in Nacogdoches and at the new facility in Center. Spruiell finished saying, "My only wish is that the staff here treats the clients, the patients, with the kindness we do in Medical Center in Nacogdoches. So, Merry Christmas everyone and congratulations."
Clay Ferrell spoke again saying, "Where do I begin; we've had a great journey over the last year and a half. The construction effort has lasted for 11 months. I stood here, I think in January or February, and said our goal was to open this facility by the end of the year. We have a lot of work left to do, it's going to be a long weekend, but this facility will open Monday morning at 8 o'clock on the 22nd." Ferrell continued, "Everything is going to be ready for patient care beginning Monday, morning, so we are very excited about that."
Ferrell then expounded on partnerships the new facility will have with other emergency care providers, "We have very important and key partnerships to make this emergency center operate." Ferrell then listed the emergency partnerships to be with ACE EMS out of Center, Flight for Life out of Tyler, PHI from Lufkin, and Life Air Rescue from Shreveport.
"We also have relationships with a company called EmCare who is the group affiliated with our physicians that will man the emergency room on a 24 hour basis beginning Monday morning," explained Ferrell. EmCare is a leading emergency department staffing and management provider and has more than 750 practices serving nearly 600 hospitals, hospital systems and other healthcare facilities nationwide.
"The most important relationship, obviously over the last 12 months has been with (J.E.) Kingham Construction," mentioned Ferrell. He continued expressing appreciation of Kingham saying, "It is very, very uncommon for a contractor to allow his customer in six weeks before he turns it over. And we have been stepping all over Daniel (Garcia, onsite supervisor,) and his crew so that we would be able to begin operations just a few days after we receive our certificate of occupancy. But it was important to us and I know it was important to the community to be open as quickly a possible. And I commend Kingham for a very good job, well done."
As a final report of the Center Emergency Department, Ferrell described, "In the final analysis we have hired more than 40 employees for this facility from laboratory all the way to imaging, nursing, patient access registration, security, pharmacy, and house keeping. We have invested about 4 million dollars in the land acquisition and the construction of the building and over 3 million dollars in technology, equipment, and furnishings. We have strewn 5 miles of data cable through this building. We have 28 computers, 5 laboratory machines, 4 imaging modalities, and 200 pieces of medical equipment. We are expecting to see anywhere from 15 to 20 patients a day in our emergency room to begin with which translates to 5,000 to 8,000 in a year. And on the imaging side, anywhere from 20 to 30 exams per day. We are anxious to see how the reality shakes up with what we've estimated. We feel very confident that this is going to be a very well used facility."
As a final announcement, Clay Ferrell introduced the manager of the new facility to be Tammy Hanson, "Tammy lives in Timpson with her husband (Mike Hanson) and two kids. She is an LVN by training and also an RN since 1999, certified in basic life support and advance cardiac life support. She has a strong background in emergency nursing. She was a trauma nursing instructor and pediatric emergency nurse instructor. For a long time she has been the trauma coordinator at Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital. So you can imagine it was very exciting for us to be able to recruit Tammy to be our onsite manager here and I know its going to be exciting for her to run this operation."
Hanson expressed her appreciation for her new position, "I would like to first extend a thank you for allowing us to serve Shelby County. This is going to be a great endeavor and we welcome you on the journey with us." Hanson continued, "I'm home. I'm a native Shelby Countian and I have not been employed in Shelby County for over 20 years and it feels great to be back."
Hanson then had the employees of the hospital stand and introduce themselves saying, "I want you to meet the faces of those who are going to make this building successful and great to serve Shelby County."
Following the announcements, all attending were invited to tour the new facility and to meet with staff and visit with them about the new facility and its equipment.
