MedWest begins work on new outpatient care center

7/14/2011

Community leaders joined MedWest Health System administrators, staff and physicians July 11 for a symbolic groundbreaking for a new outpatient care center on the MedWest-Haywood campus. Nearby, the sound of bulldozers could be heard as they moved dirt at the site for the center.

“Today is the celebration of our groundbreaking, but the new center is really a breakthrough in healthcare access and convenience for patients. This is just one way we are providing local access to healthcare for members of our community,” said Teresa Reynolds, chief operating officer for MedWest.

The new outpatient care center will include imaging services, lab services, endoscopy, two outpatient surgery rooms and two procedure rooms, and rehabilitation services. Women's diagnostic services also will be located in the new building, including digital mammography, breast MRI, ultrasound, stereotactic breast imaging, the Nurse Navigator service, and bone density testing. There also will be space for two physician practices.

Mark Clasby, chairman of the MedWest governing board, said the outpatient care center is a project that has been planned for several years.

“What you’re seeing today is all part of the vision and the reason this hospital and our other MedWest hospitals in Sylva and Bryson City joined together. When we are united, we can provide more services to our region and take care of patients locally,” Clasby said.

The center is scheduled to be finished and ready for occupancy in Spring 2012, continuing a two-year pattern of extraordinary expansion for MedWest, said Mike Poore, president and chief executive officer for MedWest. New services, facilities and innovations underway or complete at MedWest since January 2010 include: new medical office buildings in Sylva and Bryson City, new urgent care centers in Sylva and Canton, an inpatient hospice unit on property adjacent to MedWest-Haywood, a new cardiac catheterization lab at MedWest-Haywood, a wide-bore MRI at MedWest-Harris and a capital campaign to build a new emergency department at MedWest-Harris.

The new center is a partnership between MedWest Health System and 20 physicians.