State OKs new S. Hall hospital

GAINESVILLE - Northeast Georgia Health System has gets the "green light" from the state for a 100-bed hospital in South Hall.

"We are extremely pleased this CON application has been approved," says Jim Gardner, NGHS President and CEO. "We know, too, that this would not have been possible without the tremendous support the Health System received from residents in the South Hall area."

NGHS collected more than 1,000 letters from community residents and businesses in support of the new hospital. "We are so grateful for the community's overwhelming expression of support," adds Gardner. This support clearly demonstrates the need for healthcare services, especially emergency services, in this rapidly growing community."

The hospital campus will be located on a 119-acre tract of land NGHS purchased in March 2005, which will border a new four-lane highway, State Route 347, being planned by the Georgia Department of Transportation. The timeline of the Health System's construction is in alignment with the DOT's proposed timeline for SR 347, which is projected for completion by 2011-2012.

The Health System will soon begin construction on a new state-of-the-art medical office building on this property accessible from the existing Thompson Mill Road. Scheduled to be complete in late summer 2008, the medical office building will offer residents access to numerous physician specialists as well as imaging and other outpatient services.