By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | Braselton area’s sparkling $200 million hospital has been in business for 15 months now, and is running well ahead of anticipated projections, thanks to the acceptance of the people of the four-county community.
It serves Hall, Jackson, Gwinnett and Barrow County areas. It is an entirely new hospital, an offshoot of Gainesville’s Northeast Georgia Medical Center. While the new facility has found a faster-than-anticipated growth, meanwhile the parent Gainesville hospital has not seen a drop in its patient loads.
One reason for the ready acceptance of the new medical facility is because of the way the Health System went about providing medical services for the area. The Gainesville planners began years ago setting up several Urgent Care facilities, anticipating the eventual construction of a hospital in Braselton. These centers came to Braselton, Buford, Hamilton Mill, Dacula, Auburn, Jefferson, West Jackson County, Chestnut Mountain, Oakwood and Flowery Branch. They were open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, accepted most insurance plans, and had 500 physicians and specialists to work with patients.
Dining area at Braselton hospital
So, when the Braselton hospital opened, the Urgent Care patients were familiar with their doctors, and had a new hospital nearby if needed for more serious ailments.
The Braselton hospital sits on 119 acres west of Interstate 85, off Georgia Highway 211. It has 100 licensed beds, with the capacity to grow to 400 beds. That’s because the original three story building recently had two more floors added, which are not in use yet, but will eventually be occupied. Also: the foundation is strong enough to support eventually an 11 story building.
It’s modern in every way, a LEED-certified “green” building, and is heated and cooled by 156 geothermal wells with a closed loop system. Its wells are bored to 500 feet, the geothermal system will be paid for in six years, and will eventually save A/C costs of $14 million over 30 years. The hospital has no fossil fuel components.
Williamson
President of the facility is Anthony Williamson, a veteran hospital official, who has been with the Gainesville system since 2005. He’s a native of Peru, Indiana, grew up in the Upper Peninsular of Michigan, but is a graduate of Florida State, with a master’s in health science from the University of Florida.
Williamson, who lives in Hoschton with his wife and 15 year old daughter, loves working in a “peaceful, calming environmentally conscious arena.”
He says: “We have had high growth. Our Emergency Room has been extremely busy, 20 percent ahead of projections. During our second year, we anticipate treating an average of 3,200 patients a month in the Emergency Department and 375 patients a month in Surgery and Procedures – slightly more than anticipated. We’re ahead of budget in the financial area, and are of course, here for the long term.” The hospital discharges about 400 patients a month.
He says: “We’ve had a great response from the community. In addition, we’ve had primary care offices in the area for a number of years, before we had the hospital, got enough physicians coming to the market to help with our overall success.”
Williamson adds: “It’s interesting that our Urgent Care offices in the area have not slowed down since we opened the hospital. By opening these offices first, the community became familiar with the physicians for smaller medical matters, and come here now for major items.”
The new Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Braselton: it’s a well-thought out addition for Gwinnettians and people of this northeast area.
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