LeConte Medical Center opens in Sevier County
Wednesday February 24, 2010
The $115 million hospital opened its doors February 15...
At a recent ribbon-cutting for the Sevier County's new hospital, Covenant Health President and CEO Tony Spezia issued a challenge to all Sevier County residents - make LeConte Medical Center their first choice for medical care.
The $115 million hospital opened its doors February 15.
Hospital officials are hedging their bets that a beautiful new facility built to reflect the mountain heritage of the community along with the latest state-of-the art technology and a dedicated cancer center will be enough to convince residents to stay home for their health care needs.
The 70-acre campus includes the 200,000-square-foot, three-story hospital, the Dolly Parton Center for Women's Services, the Dr. Robert F. Thomas Professional Building and a branch of the Thompson Cancer Survival Center.
Parent company Covenant Health invested more than $100 million in the project while the community and private sector embarked on a $10 million capital campaign. Sevier County's favorite daughter, country music entertainer Dolly Parton, raised $1 million.
While the number of licensed beds remains the same at 79, the new hospital is five times larger in size to accommodate the county's high growth rate and booming tourism industry as well as new technology that requires large surgery suites and catheter labs.
"There has been a lot of growth in the region. We've expanded it over time but at some point you need to start over," Spezia said.
When hospital officials went before the Tennessee Board of Health and Services Agency to get approval for a cancer center, it was the first time Spezia said he had ever seen them applaud.
"The need is here," he said.
The Thompson Cancer Survival Center began seeing patients the last week in December. The 16,000-square-foot building features diagnostics, radiation therapy, a linear accelerator, chemotherapy/infusion therapy, CT scanning and mobile PET scanning services. There also is medical oncology office space.
In the Dolly Parton Family Birthing Unit, which increased to 22 rooms from 13, new mothers will be able to labor, deliver and recover in the same room, which are double in size. A Caesarean section room is located on the same floor where mothers previously had to be taken two floors down to surgery.
The hospital also has new imaging technology, bed-side computers and a bar code scanner to make sure patients get the right medicine.
The intensive care unit features smart beds that speak more than 80 phrases in 27 languages to communicate with non-English speaking patients.
Emergency department exam rooms have flat-screen televisions, phones and a nurse call system. Sliding glass doors instead of curtains separate trauma rooms. A helipad is located just outside for patients arriving via air ambulance.
Source: Knoxville News Sentinel
