Officials from Mission Health and HCA joined the Franklin community on Friday morning to break ground on the future site of a new and improved Angel Medical Center, which they expect will open by next fall.
Located at One Center Court, 1.5 miles away from the current hospital, the new Angel Medical Center will be an 82,500-square-foot, 30-bed facility with three operating rooms, an endoscopy unit and a 17-bed emergency room including three dedicated behavioral health beds. The hospital will represent a $68 million investment in expanding local access to medical care services, which many community members have argued are lacking at the current location because of inefficient space and resources.
“This new $68 million state-of-the-art healthcare facility offers the most up-to-date clinical services and integrates the latest wireless technology available,” said HCA public relations director Nancy Lindell. “It will provide larger rooms, better lighting and healing views, and the capacity to allow for the latest technologies to be incorporated into the hospital.”
The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by dozens of representatives from the hospital system, as well as from the town, county and state government, but it wasn’t open to the public due to ongoing concerns about COVID-19. The pandemic’s impact has been felt on a number of levels in the quest for a new hospital, with construction originally scheduled for late 2020 and getting pushed back to this spring. Angel Medical Center CEO Karen Gorby is relieved to see progress being made in getting more key medical services inside the county lines.
“This construction project builds on and supports the vision for healthcare in our communities,” Gorby said. “A new facility here in Franklin will allow us to provide current patient care services while focusing on the health of the community for years to come.”
There is still ample skepticism in Franklin over the future of Angel Medical Center. Many residents, including mayor Bob Scott, have called for the return of labor and delivery, but to no avail. Still, many local officials believe that this expansion, even if imperfect, will be key to the population growth of Franklin and Macon County for years to come.
“This is what I’d call a magnet for our county,” Macon County Commissioner Gary Shields said. “It’ll be an economic stimulant for our county and I think it’ll ease some anxiety for a lot of people.”
The new Angel Medical Center is scheduled to open in the fall of 2022. Mission Health and HCA have not announced plans for the future of the current hospital.