VIDEO: BRMC celebrates opening of surgery wing

After three years of planning and a year and a half of construction, Baptist Regional Medical Center held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new Outpatient Surgery Center and Critical Care Unit last Friday.

The outpatient surgery center provides four additional bed, plus six existing suites for a total of 10. The surgery center has a private waiting area separate from the hospital dedicated solely for the use of the surgery center patients and their families.

Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney cuts the ribbon to celebrate the grand opening of a new outpatient surgery center at Baptist Regional Medical Center last Friday.

For the event, BRMC President John Henson welcomed guests, which ranged from employees to media and local officials, to the event and talked about how it felt to complete a project of this magnitude.

“It is very satisfying because you go through years of planning,” Henson said. “You start with a master facility plan, which probably goes back three of four years, and maybe even five, and then to see all of it come to fruition at the end is special.

“It’s a great facility too, in terms of the technology that’s there,” he added. “We have the ability to do things that we haven’t done before and the flexibility that the surgery piece in particular will give us is great. We will do more surgeries and a greater volume, while at the same time providing excellent service.”

The critical care unit, which is currently located on the lower level adjacent to oak Tree Hospital will be relocated to the second floor of the new expansion. The new facility has 10 new critical care unit rooms. Each room is private, providing the comforts of home with quality healthcare to each patient.

Henson talked about the pride on the faces of the employees as they toured the facility, especially the ICU employees who have had a running joke for quite some time regarding their location.

“The employees are proud of this facility, especially the ICU employees,” Henson said. “They make a joke about the fact they have been in the basement for years and years and the coronary care, CCU and ICU has been in the lower level for years and now they finally get out. I think just getting a window makes them happy, but the technology really completes the project.”

Sherry Mays, who is the Coordinator of Surgical Services at BRMC, said the new facility is a much-needed one and talked about how proud she is to be a part of it.

“I have been here 28 years and I am glad to be a part of this expansion. We did this in response to the increase in cases that we’ve had,” Mays said. “We wanted to make improvements for our outpatient care population because we wanted them to be able to come in and the get the care they needed and go home in a timely manner.

“What we have done is added four OR’s and opened everything up to technology,” she added. “We have laparoscopic technology that hangs from the ceiling, whereas in the past everything was on the floor. So everything is up off the floor, which makes the employees much safer because they are not tripping on the cords.”

The facility is not yet open for procedures and can be viewed by visitors who are seeking a tour until then.