TOP 10 STORIES: RMC's Bamberg-Barnwell Emergency Center bringing health care access back to area
The
"BBEMC is incredibly important for the citizens in the communities of
"That facility is truly state of the art, and it is outfitted to perform routine labs, diagnostic testing. We have our CT, our ultrasound. So being able to provide all of that, again, just creates such convenience. It gives them access to care that is truly close to home," Dalton said.
The emergency department is open 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Outpatient services are offered from
The outpatient side includes lab, ultrasound, radiology and CT. All these services will also be available to the emergency department.
The facility also features nine observation rooms and is equipped to handle ambulance and walk-in traffic. The facility includes consultation rooms, triage rooms and observation rooms.
Incoming patients will access not just emergency care, but diagnostic services and a pharmacy. The facility also has an ambulance bay as well as a helicopter pad for LifeNet's air transportation.
"I think people will truly look at it only as a free-standing emergency center, and it is so much more. It also has so much potential, and that is what is so exciting about it," Dalton said.
"That is a 20,500-square-foot state-of-the-art building, but they purposely left 1,900 square feet within that building undeveloped and unfinished. Why? That was specifically for future growth.
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"So as the facility's only been there eight months, we continue to get that feedback from the community so that we can evaluate what specifically the community is telling us that it needs. Then we know that we're truly working toward eliminating that health care disparity that exists in that rural community," Dalton said.
The facility is currently seeing an average of 60 patients a day,
"I think the projections were to see 25 to 30 patients a day, and we have doubled that. That's wonderful. There are 60 patients a day that are receiving care close to home that are getting their needs taken care of," Dalton said, but the facility is not without challenges.
"We continue to closely monitor our operational costs, as well as our payer mix because here at RMC, the main campus, we have roughly a 75 percent governmental payer mix. It's tough in this economy. Our BBEMC payer mix has been somewhat better, which was a surprise."
"They had a 61 percent governmental payer mix, a 22 percent commercial insurance and a 17 percent self-pay. Emergency rooms, whether they be free standing or here at larger facility, are generally not revenue generating. So we know that, but they do serve as the front door of any health care organization."
She added, "Our hope, because this is truly a well-outfitted, state-of-the-art facility, is that we continue to educate and garner support from the community about all of the adjunct services that we offer. Our lab, our imaging services, our ability to provide that care when they need it most and at their convenience, that will help to offset any loss that we currently are seeing. That is our hope as we move forward and that facility continues to grow."
Dalton said the RMC is proud of its emergency facility and the economic impact it has had.
"We're currently employing 50 full-time employees at the BBEMC. So not only did that give them access to health care, but it also gave access to jobs. So as that facility continues to grow, we hope to continue to be able to provide more services and to add more full-time employees to that area," she said.
"That is incredibly exciting, and the quality of care that we provide is only getting better and better. We want the community to utilize those services and to be able to get the word out for all that we offer and all that we have the potential for, as well as to encourage the community to have their voices heard, to reach out to RMC and let us know what it is that they want to see in their community so that we can make sure we have what they need close to home," Dalton said.
The center can be reached by phone at 803-395-3352.
Contact the writer: [email protected] or 803-533-5534. Follow "Good News with Gleaton" on Twitter at @DionneTandD
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