New Hospital - A Dream Come True!

Tanner Medical Center / East Alabama

​A dream is coming true for the residents that call Randolph County home. The finishing touches are being put on our brand new hospital and in a matter of weeks as Tanner Medical Center/East Alabama invites the community to “See the Future of Care in East Alabama” at its open house on September 30. “The hospital itself will not be operational that day,” Tony Montcalm, Communications Manager for Tanner Health System, said. “But it will be to a point where we want to show what the communities efforts have accomplished.” The Hospital is slated to open some time in October depending on final approvals from the state. “It is just a process,” Jerry Morris, Tanner Medical Center/East Alabama hospital administrator, said. “We would love to be able to move in as soon as possible, but there are some Regulatory and Compliance things that have to be done before we are move in ready. “We are shooting for October for sure,” Montcalm said. “ We don’t want to say a date and that not happen. We want to make sure if there is a medical emergency that the person knows where to go. So until we get more things accomplished, we don’t want to talk about a specific date.” Finishing touches are well in hand and the Open House is just part of the process. “We want the community to share in the success of opening this hospital which is why we are having the big celebratory open house event at the end of September,” Morris said. “We know how big this is for the community and make no mistake, we know that Tanner has been entrusted to manage this facility…But this hospital belongs to Randolph County. We are proud and humbled to play our part.”

After the Open House, a specific cleaning crew will come in to sterilize and sanitize the facility to get it “hospital ready” after that people from the state will come in for a final inspection of the facility and paperwork and all that is required to get the state seal of approval to open a hospital. In addition to overseeing the management and operation of the hospital, Tanner Health System also agreed to provide more than $6 million in equipment and furnishings. “This is the same equipment that is at the other Tanner facilities. There is a 64-slice CT scanner here in Wedowee and its the exact same equipment that is at Tanner in Carrollton, Villa Rica and Bremen,” Morris said. “ Tanner Medical Center/East Alabama will feature 15 private inpatient beds, eight emergency department exam rooms, a dedicated ambulance bay for medical emergencies, state of the art diagnostic imaging services which include CT, X-ray and ultrasound, onsite laboratory with modern analyzers and instrumentation and a state of the art surgical suite. According to Tanner’s press release, the relationship with the system also gives our local hospital patients access to Tanner’s medical staff of more than 300 physicians representing 34 specialties. 

---