Robyn Miles / Daily News
West Georgia Health System President Jerry Fulks (far left) and a group of government and hospital leaders gather at a nursing station near the emergency department entrance during Thursday’s tour of the South Tower addition under construction on the hospital campus. With Fulks are, from left: County Commissioner Richard English, hospital board Chairman John McKibben, hospital board members Nasor Mansour III and Kenneth McCamey, Mayor Jeff Lukken, City Councilman Nick Woodson, and commissioners Ken Smith and Buck Davis. At right, Smith, left, speaks with Earl Cox, the health system’s administrative director of facilities, in the entrance and lobby area.
West Georgia Health System President Jerry Fulks (far left) and a group of government and hospital leaders gather at a nursing station near the emergency department entrance during Thursday’s tour of the South Tower addition under construction on the hospital campus. With Fulks are, from left: County Commissioner Richard English, hospital board Chairman John McKibben, hospital board members Nasor Mansour III and Kenneth McCamey, Mayor Jeff Lukken, City Councilman Nick Woodson, and commissioners Ken Smith and Buck Davis. At right, Smith, left, speaks with Earl Cox, the health system’s administrative director of facilities, in the entrance and lobby area.
Bond financing of the $70 million project was backed by a pledge of county property taxes, allowing the health system to save a huge sum on interest rates.
“We went around the periphery of each floor and saw what we could,” hospital spokeswoman Allison Davis said. “The purpose was to give city and county officials who helped us get this far an update on where we are in the process.”
The South Tower will have an emergency department and ambulance bay on the ground floor, a lobby and cardiac unit on the first floor, a 24-room intensive-care unit on the second floor, a labor/delivery unit on the third floor, and mechanical and electrical operations on the fourth floor. The building was designed for a future expansion that would give it up to 192 patient rooms.
“I’m impressed by the progress they’re making and with the quality of construction,” said Troup County finance officer Stewart Mills, who was on the 45-minute tour.
Joining Mills were County Commission Chairman Ricky Wolfe; LaGrange Mayor Jeff Lukken; City Councilman Nick Woodson; commissioners Richard English, Buck Davis, Morris Jones and Ken Smith; County Manager Mike Dobbs; Assistant County Manager Todd Tentler; and hospital board members Kenneth McCamey, Nasor Mansour III and John McKibben.
“They said they were overwhelmed at the size of the building,” Allison Davis said. “Looking at it from the ground, you don’t really get a sense of it and how much better it will enable us to serve our patients.”
Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@lagrangenews.com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.
Im just sick and tired of our county, state and country being destroyed from within