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Read comments (16)"The move is right on schedule with all the new equipment in place, tested and approved," said Pam Fisher, public relations and marketing director. "The final state survey was conducted on Monday, July 7, and our license for operations was granted with zero deficiencies."
The emergency department at the Union Street hospital will offically close at 7 a.m. Saturday, and will open at the new hospital at the same time.
With the help of other agencies, including Bedford County Emergency Medical Service, Bedford County Emergency Management Agency, and the Shelbyville Police Department, hospital officials have come up with an efficient plan for the move.
"We have developed a Patient Move Sequence that assures a systematic approach to moving our patients in a timely and safe manner," said Dan Buckner, hospital chief executive officer, in a letter sent to the Times-Gazette. "Patient safety is the number one goal of the move."
In addition to EMS and the Shelbyville Police Department, the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Vanderbilt Medical Center and Robbins Security will help execute the move.
Four advanced life support units will transport patients, one patient per unit, unless a unit is transporting a mother and newborn baby, Fisher said.
"These will be off-duty units, alleviating any impact on EMS coverage to the county during the move," Buckner said.
The police department and highway patrol will ensure that the route between the two hospitals is secure, enabling units transporting patients to travel without obstructions.
"Vanderbilt's Angel Unit will provide transportation for any unstable infants as determined by the attending physician," Buckner said.
The hospital move team has already conducted trial runs.
"Alongside of Bedford County EMA and EMS, the team has conducted three tabletop drills and one actual role-play patient relocation," said Fisher. "The tabletop drills included transporting of paper patients and coordination of the communication involved with sending and receiving patients."
Once patients are at their new location Saturday, Robbins Security and the police department will ensure that they, as well as visitors and hospital staff, are safe and secure.
"Due to the serious nature of this move, no media or members of the public beyond that of the immediate family will be allowed on the campus of Heritage Medical Center on July 12," Buckner said, noting that the new hospital, which is completely smoke-free, will be open to the public Sunday.
In order to permit the staff to focus on patients and patient safety, the visitation policy will be different than normal on Saturday.
"Each patient will be provided a visitor badge that they may provide to the person of their choice," Fisher said. "This badge is required to obtain entry into the new hospital during the actual patient move. Each patient's designated visitor will be able to wait at the hospital in the dining area, the waiting area, or the gift shop area while all patients are being transported."
Buckner said Community Health Systems, which owns the new hospital, appointed a specialized team early in the building process to oversee the execution of the details of the new hospital's opening.
"This experienced team has overseen multiple hospital moves using a proven Patient Move Sequence model," Buckner said.
Fisher said she's extremely excited about Saturday, after months of planning.
"Through dedication, determination and the tireless efforts of our employees, medical staff, our city and county officials and their agencies, we are preparing to open the doors to begin a new era in healthcare for the patients and their families we serve," Fisher said.
NEW NUMBERS
New phone numbers, effective July 12, for Heritage Medical Center are: 685-5433 (main); and 685-8301 (scheduling).
Yikes!
I admit we've had some decline in healthcare from the good old days but I agree that some personal pride,respect for others and compassion ought to lead to the level of competence and caring we should expect.
Do we have an off-hours facility for "non-emergency" emergencies?
Even if a "toothache" doesn't turn out to be a heart attack in stealth mode or tic doloroux,etc; a dry socket,impacted wisdom tooth,broken tooth or other dental crisis can feel like pure hell.
(So can a rash,a colicky baby,an earache,severe constipation or a number of non-life-threatening yet VERY uncomfortable ailments.)
While we don't want to clog the ER or doctor's offices with hypochondriacs,malingerers,scammers and folks with Munchausen by Proxy,we don't need people delaying or failing to get proper treatment when it is warranted.
Many people have written off staph infections as mere pimples or boils,assumed coronaries were indigestion or even had medical personal dismiss kidney stones as an excuse to get narcotics and ectopic pregnancies or endometriosis as "bad periods".
There needs to be some way of making the public and the medical people partners in health care.
In addition to wellness care,elective surgery,long term care,trauma cases,etc;we need some provision for acute cases that may not be anything big as well as those that are more serious.
Why should we suffer more than we have to and why should we run the risk of letting a small problem wind up becoming a big crisis?
If one of my neighbors gets an animal bite,has a preventable accident at work or contracts food poisoning,I want them tended to at the hospital where the cause of their distress can be noted,dealt with and publicized to people at risk for the same danger.
When time is of the essence,we don't need to have patients being trained to avoid necessary care because the child who swallowed water while swimming,the grandmother who fell,the guy in the fender-bender,the passed-out drunk,the migraine sufferer,the petit-mal epileptic,the person with pneaumonia or flu and the bi-polar individual having a meltdown are "too much of a nuisance".
One of these days,it might be us or one of our loved ones in need of thorough and dignified care.
We need to be ready to seek it and comply with it just as the caregivers need to be ready to administer it.
By all means,have triage but have enough help for everyone to be tended to in an efficient and timely manner-and have as much respect for the guy with a torn nail or the child with the Gummi Bear up his nose as the person with a second degree scald or a broken kneecap.
Outside view
I agree with your views to a certain extent. However the woes of health care are deeper than a person with an attitude problem. It has everything to do with the decreasing reimbursements, accreditation standards have become impossible to meet. Cutting back on staffing has even compounded the load on todays health care manager. The facts are things are tough all over. Having worked in nonprofit, for profit and not for profit healthcare for a number of years, I have come to this realization. Every person in any role in health care has to have a come to Jesus meeting. They have to settle it in themselves; I am a servant to the people regardless of the issues. My role in this organization is to be an agent of healing for those who need it. BCMC (Heritage) is owned by one the most aggressive health care companies in the world. Aggressive staffing is how CHS controls its budget. If the patient mix isn't there the census is not up. Staffing is flexed to the root to meet the budgetary benchmarks. This in turn causes a domino effect in the working ranks of the organization. Unfortunately this practice is a must to insure profitability. Which brings us back the come to JESUS meeting? Choose to be a servant or come to work to get a paycheck and make the lives of the other staff and the patients a living hell. It hard to weed out the underperformers in the healthcare workplace. Everybody gets tired from time to time. I think we are back to the Come to JESUS MEETING again. For CHS it must begin with Mr. Smith who is the president and CEO. He must ask himself. How much money do we need to make and is it worth using hard working people to achieve the measure. (Which is set very high?)
Yes sir things are tough all over.
Outsideview, I do not think everyone is rude that works at the hospital nor incompetent, but in my experience there are some. I got to the hospital and my friend went to get help because I could not walk, nor bend my knee because I had shattered my kneecap. I was told I would have to sit in a wheelchair. I could NOT bend my knee. I had to be a little ugly because I should have been heard. I had a ver nice male nurse but a horrible doctor. He came in long enough to ask if anyone told me I had shattered my kneecap? I told him no that I already kneww it was broke. So I can understand you taken offense if you work there and are nice to people but getting on here with that kind of attitude and and mouth just shows people what they think is true. I will not say I will never go back, but if given tne choice I will go to a different hospital.
On April 21 of this year, I had the pleasure of visiting our ER because I had broke my knee. I was referred to Tullahoma because our orthopedic surgeon was on vacation. On July 2, I got a phone call from a credit agency where I had already been turned over to collections. I had never even recieved a bill. My insurance had paid sometime in May. They must really need the money to pay for the new hospital. I would have already started paying my bill if I had recieved one. Now I will drag it out as long as possible.
REMEMBER MTMC IS JUST A FEW MILES UP THE ROAD. YOU WONT HAVE THE TURNING LIGHT AT THE AIRPORT SHINEING IN YOUR WINDOW EVERY TIME IT COMES AROUND!
Bedford County Hospital has had rumors of poor hospitality for Many Many years; That is just the way it is. If the hospital wants to prove it is a better hospital it should be able to take comments and some criticism from it's county citizens and use it for improvements. If it is true of the reputation then the citizens have a RIGHT to voice their oppinions and criticism on the matter. Their are many people that i have heard said they rather go to another hospital, because of "Poor Hospitality and Waiting forever to be seen" at this hospital and ER. Not everyone who works their is guilty of the rumors, but all it takes is a few and the whole facility will get labeled as such. It looks even worse when someone who works at, for, or with the facility argues and calls people names who have experienced poor service; rather than saying they apologize that they had a bad experience and hope that things will be better for them and every one else in the near future.
Mayberry, I am not sure how you came to form your view of the southern middle TN healthcare system, but obviously you've not gotten out of this area becuase your an idiot. I have been all over the country, as a third party health-care administrator, and given the resources available to every person in Bedford Co. in less than one hour (Vandy, St. Thomas) you need to shut-up. We have gifted area in healthcare and one day when you need it most, you will see it. The true problem with every healthcare system (and the cause for those nurses that "need weeded out") is the idiots who call a toothache an emergency and tie up multiple resources in the emergency room while simultanouesly expecting to be treated like royalty. Instead of complaining about the healthcare available around, don't bomard hospitals with stupid "non-emergencies" and let them do their real job-- helping sick people, not giving you attention. I would say if you have ever been treated bad by a hospital staff member, you probably had no business being there. So, back-off your simple minded views and be thankful there are people out there who will still try to help your sorry butt even when it dosn't need. And remember, NOBODY I mean NOBODY is going to take the time to be rude if you trully need help.
Mayberry, I am not sure how you came to form your view of the southern middle TN healthcare system, but obviously you've not gotten out of this area becuase your an idiot. I have been all over the country, as a third party health-care administrator, and given the resources available to every person in Bedford Co. in less than one hour (Vandy, St. Thomas) you need to shut-up. We have gifted area in healthcare and one day when you need it most, you will see it. The true problem with every healthcare system (and the cause for those nurses that "need weeded out") is the idiots who call a toothache an emergency and tie up multiple resources in the emergency room while simultanouesly expecting to be treated like royalty. Instead of complaining about the healthcare available around, don't bomard hospitals with stupid "non-emergencies" and let them do their real job-- helping sick people, not giving you attention. I would say if you have ever been treated bad by a hospital staff member, you probably had no business being there. So, back-off your simple minded views and be thankful there are people out there who will still try to help your sorry butt even when it dosn't need. And remember, NOBODY I mean NOBODY is going to take the time to be rude if you trully need help.
Mayberry, I am not sure how you came to form your view of the southern middle TN healthcare system, but obviously you've not gotten out of this area becuase your an idiot. I have been all over the country, as a third party health-care administrator, and given the resources available to every person in Bedford Co. in less than one hour (Vandy, St. Thomas) you need to shut-up. We have gifted area in healthcare and one day when you need it most, you will see it. The true problem with every healthcare system (and the cause for those nurses that "need weeded out") is the idiots who call a toothache an emergency and tie up multiple resources in the emergency room while simultanouesly expecting to be treated like royalty. Instead of complaining about the healthcare available around, don't bomard hospitals with stupid "non-emergencies" and let them do their real job-- helping sick people, not giving you attention. I would say if you have ever been treated bad by a hospital staff member, you probably had no business being there. So, back-off your simple minded views and be thankful there are people out there who will still try to help your sorry butt even when it dosn't need. And remember, NOBODY I mean NOBODY is going to take the time to be rude if you trully need help.
If the hospital is actually in the City Limits. All of the Airport Business Park from Harts Chapel Road to Frank Martin Road back to Midland Road is in the city limits, with the exception of a few parcels of land. Does this mean that these people are paying city taxes like all the other people in the city? Do they have sewer, ciy water, police and fire protection, garbage pickup? Can they all vote in the city elections?
Does this mean that city firetruck responds and not VFSI to fires and wrecks in that area?
There are 60 beds in the new hospital. Most of those rooms are single, with just a few double beds.
The hospital is actually in the City Limits. All of the Airport Business Park from Harts Chapel Road to Frank Martin Road back to Midland Road is in the city limits, with the exception of a few parcels of land.
How many rooms does this new hospital have? I heard somewhere it was only 30 is that true?
Why did they build the new hospital outside the city limits? Tullahoma is quicker to get to than this hospital. If you have a serious injury, I would not trust any hospital down here. (Bedford,Marshall,and mostly all of southern Middle TN)
You know I am sure that all the new equipment and everything is really nice but if you take some of those same old sourpusses that work at the ER with you none of that really matters. Dont get me wrong some of the nurses in the ER are wonderful but there are a few that should be weeded out!
This is aa remarkable plan for this momentous move.GOOD LUCK.