People across northeast Georgia now have a new destination for emergency care, heart care and one of the state’s few Level I Trauma Centers as Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) opened the new Green Tower at Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) Gainesville. The 927,000-square-foot, 11-story tower officially opened just before 7 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 8.
“Finally getting to see patients and visitors in the Green Tower is a special moment,” said Carol Burrell, president and CEO of NGHS. “There were so many people who helped bring this to fruition, and I know it will continue to improve the health of our community for years to come. Everything has already gone so well today, and we’re looking forward to our first surgery scheduled for Monday morning.”
The new emergency department on the ground floor of the Green Tower saw its first patient at 6:47 a.m. Stephen Black, of Mount Airy, was treated by NGMC Gainesville’s medical director of Emergency Services, Cory Duncan, MD, for a fistula complication.
“When people come to the new emergency department space in the Green Tower, they’re going to be in a much better environment,” said Mohak Davé, MD, chief of emergency medicine for NGHS. “The treatment spaces and waiting areas are beautiful, the registration and triage processes are streamlined and, overall, we expect to move people through faster than before.”
The emergency department includes dedicated areas for trauma, resuscitation, minor care, behavioral health and pediatrics. A helipad was also built on the roof of the Green Tower, with dedicated elevators to take patients directly to the emergency department, operating rooms or cardiac catheterization lab for the lifesaving care they need.
The tower’s first floor is home to many Georgia Heart Institute services including cardiac testing, catheterization labs and endovascular operating rooms. There’s also a new café for visitors to grab a bite and enjoy the large windows letting in plenty of natural light.
The second floor adds five new operating rooms and is the new home of the Ronnie Green Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit. The third floor houses all mechanical support for the tower. The fourth floor includes a coronary care unit and the cardiovascular intermediate care unit, and the fifth floor features the Woody Stewart Heart Failure Treatment Unit.
“The Green Tower is a gamechanger for our heart patients,” said Vik Reddy, MD, chief clinical officer for NGHS. “It brings so many of our cardiac care services into one location, which will make care more seamless for patients. Georgia’s hearts were on our mind through every step of this project, and now that it’s complete, I’m excited to watch how much of an asset it becomes for the patients we care for.”
Staff spent much of Saturday morning moving patients from the hospital’s original patient tower, which opened in 1951, to new rooms in the Green Tower. In total, about 80 patients were moved from that space – now known as the Orange Tower – as well as from the Gray Tower.
The Green Tower opened with 96 inpatient care beds, but there’s still room to grow. Floors six through nine are current shell space that will be built out as needed during the coming years, which will eventually bring the total to more than 190 new inpatient beds for the NGMC Gainesville campus. The project also added hundreds of new parking spaces in the nearby deck and created more than 100 new jobs.
It’s estimated that more than 3,000 people attended a public open house and ribbon cutting at the Green Tower last weekend. Each of the floors, including the new outdoor garden and patio areas were open for guests to tour.
“This Green Tower helps us provide exceptional care for our community, and the impact extends beyond the bedside to help grow the greater good,” said John Kueven, chief operating officer for NGHS. “As a not-for-profit health system, we take any dollars beyond our operating expenses and reinvest them to expand access to care, enhance the services we provide, create more jobs and work toward our mission to improve the health of our community in all we do.”
More than 80% of the construction dollars for the Green Tower project were paid to contractors across the state, including nearly 60% located in the northeast Georgia region.
NGHS also intentionally worked to create a healing environment inside the Green Tower that reflects the nature of the surrounding region. After a call for artists drew more than 80 responses, 19 artists were commissioned for pieces to be displayed throughout the new tower. Among other regional artists, Gainesville-based artists Malia Bolt, Ingrid Bolton, Garon Hart, Parrish Hoag, Blair Kawa and Alison Odom were chosen to have original pieces spread across the first five floors.
“This new tower is truly built for the community, by the community, and it’s a testament to our commitment to always strive to be better tomorrow than we are today,” Burrell said.
To learn more about the Green Tower and the other Growing the Greater Good projects at NGHS, visit nghs.com/growing.