(Transcript)
This construction project builds on and supports the vision for healthcare in our communities. A new facility here in Franklin will allow us to continue providing patient care and services while focusing on the health of the community for years to come.
Partnerships in bringing this new facility to fruition are key. I would like to recognize our colleagues at HCA Corporate, as well as ESa Architects, who have worked diligently with our team of clinicians, support personnel, and doctors to bring a new facility for Angel Medical Center to life. The rich dialogue and unwavering focus on patient care and flow has been vetted continuously for the past several months.
Today, we celebrate the work by turning over the plans to JE Dunn Construction, under the leadership of Steve Suttles, to begin the journey to facility completion in 2022. Energetic discussions about all things construction, balanced with the need for sustaining patient care, have resulted in excellent strategies for this project. Much appreciation to you and your team for listening to our voice. I look forward to the continued collaboration during this construction phase.
To our Angel Medical Center and Mission Health colleagues – none of this would be possible today without your perspective, input, collaboration and expertise. Thank you for your dedication and sweat equity on creating this wonderful, future plan for patient care.
I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge a few of our local and state elected officials in attendance today: Bob Scott, Mayor of the Town of Franklin, Summer Woodard, Franklin Town Manager, Jack Horton, Franklin Town Council Member, Dinah Mashburn, Franklin Town Council Member, Justin Setser, Franklin Town Planner, Gary Shields, Macon County Commissioner, District 2, Karl Gillespie, NC State Representative District 120, Chief Bill Harrell, Franklin Police, Sheriff Robbie Holland. Thank you for being here with us today.
At this time, I’d like to invite Janet Greene, a member of our Angel Medical Center Board of Trustees, to the podium to lead us in an opening prayer.
[Janet Greene]
(Opening Prayer)
[Karen Gorby]
Thank you Janet.
Wow! I am so excited to begin the next step of our journey in building the new Angel Medical Center. Five years ago, when I joined AMC, I never dreamed that I would have the opportunity to design and construct a new hospital for our community!
Although challenging at times, our journey has brought us to today. As I have said before, a lot has to happen before a shovel hits the dirt. First, the need for a new hospital must be established. Then a site has to be found, a certificate of need sent and approved, funding to be secured, and plans developed. As with all significant projects, there were opportunities; AMC’s new partnership with HCA, filing numerous permits, awaiting approval, and of course, the pandemic.
The legacy of a community hospital is rich as it provides for and meets the healthcare needs of our residents. We would not be positioned today to break ground on a new facility without the legacy of leadership that has come before us. To all of our previous board members and hospital leaders, thanks go to each of you for leadership and commitment to healthcare here in Franklin and in Macon County. It is because of you that we again get to celebrate a bright future today.
To our local and state elected officials, your shared vision for our community is strong and certain. Thank you for your support and collaboration during this project.
As we stand grounded at our new hospital’s future location, I want to acknowledge that today would also not have been possible without Mission Health and HCA. Support from the HCA construction team, ESA Architects, the Town of Franklin, Macon County, the State of North Carolina, and many others instrumental to our facility’s success.
This 68 million dollar state-of-the-art healthcare facility offers the most up-to-date clinical services and integrates the latest wireless technology available. Within the new 82,500-square-foot facility will be housed:
- 3 operating rooms
- 1 endoscopy suit and a 17 bed emergency department
- The new facility will have a 30 bed inpatient unit capacity with:
- 5 acuity adaptable beds
- 20 medical surgical beds and 5 observation beds
We are proud and excited to be able to continue our current clinical offerings while enhancing and developing additional services based on our community’s future needs.
At last, we have traveled to today and the breaking of the ground. This very ceremony symbolizes the start of a new hospital that will provide healthcare to our community for years to come. As with all transitions, we must appreciate those from the past who founded and developed AMC. Their dream and commitment to providing health care in Macon County have paved the way for our healthcare today. As we turn over the soil, we honor AMC’s history and celebrate the new AMC’s future.
On behalf of Mission Health, I want to thank everyone for the countless number of hours that have been spent in making the new Angel Medical Center project a reality and for helping take healthcare to the next level in Macon County. At this time, I’d like to turn the program over to Johnny Mira-Knipple, Angel Medical Center Board of Trustees Chair.
[Johnny Mira-Knipple]
Good morning. As chairman of the board at Angel, I am very excited for today as we begin construction on a new hospital to benefit our community. Angel has long been an important and critical component to keeping our citizens safe and healthy as well as helping to attract and keep great employees for our local businesses. Over the last 15 years, Angel has faced significant challenges due to our size in a healthcare landscape that requires size to survive. Financially we were in a bad position before Mission Health offered to support our debt before acquiring us and investing significantly in our hospital. With HCA, even more resources are coming to our community.
We have seen a major shift over the last several years towards increasing access to services through telemedicine that were previously unavailable to a hospital our size. We also know that patients would like to have rooms that are large enough for visitors and have more natural light to help them get better sooner.
We are excited at the commitment that HCA has made to Franklin and Macon County and that they have continued development of the hospital plan with input from our local providers and caregivers. I am thankful that our new hospital will be state of the art and ready to serve our community for the next 50 years and beyond.
Thank you all for being here and for your support. At this time, I’m going to turn the program back over to Karen Gorby, CEO/CNO of Angel Medical Center, who will get us ready for the groundbreaking.
[Karen Gorby]
Thank you, Johnny. I believe that we all agree we have much to celebrate today. Through your presence here, you have reinforced the importance of healthcare in our community. Our shared goal is to have healthy communities and as we break ground for this construction project, we are thankful for our many partnerships in achieving that vision.
And now for the moment we have all been waiting for, it is time for the ceremony. Please join me for this momentous event. Would Tim Layman, Peggy Ramey, Becky Dahl, Leslie Vanhook, Johnny Mira-Knippel, Dr. David Franks please join me for the ceremonial breaking of the ground.
We will be taking a series of photos and will then be available for questions. I invite you to also enjoy refreshments and thank you again for coming.
