North Georgia Medical Center Requests Braselton Community’s Diagnosis for Success

In October 2010, North Georgia Medical Center received final approval of a certificate of need from the state of Georgia to build an inpatient hospital at River Place in Braselton.

While the 100,000-square-foot Medical Plaza 1 has been in place since 2008 and is now nearly at full occupancy with an urgent care center, imaging center, rehabilitation facility, a HealthLink Lab and a wide variety of physicians services ranging from allergy care and dermatology to cardiology and gastroenterology — the development of Medical Plaza 2 and Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton are currently in the planning and design phases.

According to a recent document published by Northeast Georgia Health System, the planning phase for the state-of-the-art hospital will be “focused and deliberate”, and is expected to take approximately 12 months to complete. These efforts will be integrated with input from the community while taking into account other major planning efforts — including the realignment and expansion of Ga. Highway 347. The estimated opening date for Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton is late 2014 or early 2015. Between now and then, it is expected that Medical Plaza 2 — providing an additional 60,000 square feet of medical office space — will be completed.

Over the coming weeks, North Georgia Medical Center has scheduled a series of community forums to invite area residents to learn more about their plans for Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton and give the community a chance to provide input into the campus' development.

The forums will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on the following dates and at the following locations:

• Tuesday, Jan. 10 at Hall County Library Spout Springs Branch
• Wednesday, Jan. 11 at Sugar Hill United Methodist Church in Buford
• Tuesday, Jan. 24 at Town Hall Community Room, Braselton
• Wednesday, Jan. 25 at Jackson EMC in Jefferson
• Thursday, Jan. 26 at Hamilton Mill United Methodist Church in Dacula

"The support from the Greater Braselton community was instrumental in our ability to obtain a Certificate of Need from the State for Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton, and our commitment throughout this process has been to give them the opportunity to provide input into the development of the River Place campus," said Tracy Vardeman, vice president of strategic planning and marketing for Northeast Georgia Health System. "This will be their community's hospital and healthcare destination, and we want to give them the chance to help make it their own."

Community forums will be facilitated by hospital staff and the hospital's chosen architect for the Braselton project, Hammel, Green and Abrahamson. Light refreshments will be served. For those unable to attend a community forum, North Georgia Medical Center is offering residents the opportunity to provide feedback through an online survey, which can be accessed at www.nghs.com/riverplace.

For more information, call 770-219-3840.

What are your feelings about the introduction of a new state-of-the-art hospital to the Braselton area? Tell us in comments.

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