Southern Regional Health System opens new observation unit

Southern Regional Medical Center recently unveiled its new observation unit.

The 8-bed facility, which opened Sept. 20, is designed to accept patients with specific symptoms or diagnoses such as chest pain, asthma, abdominal pain and congestive heart failure. This new unit will allow specialized monitoring and care of patients for up to 23 hours.

“We are very excited about this new unit”, says Maria Kulma, vice president of patient care Services for SRMC. “The care provided will be a model to establish a strong collaborative relationship between physicians and nurses in an effort to care for patients quickly and accurately.”

The unit is on the second floor of the hospital, and will allow physicians to direct admit patients in need. A case manager, will complete a criteria sheet to ensure the right patients are sent to the observation unit. The unit includes state-of-the-art cardiac monitoring equipment and a family/patient conference room to be used for consultation. The unit was created in an effort to take care of patients in one location and facilitate a more timely medical decision.

“This new unit will allow us to offer the right level of care in a more efficient and organized process,” said Southern Regional President and CEO Ed Bonn.

The unit is provided through the generosity of Southern Regional Medical Center Auxiliary and Foundation, who pledged $500,000 to the construction of the unit over the next three years. The first installment of $166,000 has already been donated.

Southern Regional Health System offers comprehensive health resources, including Southern Regional Medical Center, a 376 bed, full-service hospital in Riverdale. The medical center features a long term acute care hospital, a state-of-the-art outpatient surgery center, the Women's Life Center, a Diabetes Resource Center and one of the busiest emergency departments in the state. Southern Regional Health System is also comprised of RiverWoods, Southern Regional Psychiatric Center, which provides mental health, and substance abuse treatment. Home health care is provided by Southern Regional’s Homecare and additional outpatient surgery is performed at the Surgery Center at Mount Zion located in Morrow.