From day one, Piedmont has remained committed, not only to expanding services, but investing in the folks that call Gilmer County home,” Piedmont Mountainside Chief Executive Officer Denise Ray said. “This facility and services provided is a testament of ensuring access to quality care right here, where it matters the most … Let this ribbon cutting today stand as a symbol of progress, partnership and care that truly begins at home.”
Local officials, health care professionals and community members gathered to celebrate Piedmont Mountainside’s new facility in East Ellijay at a ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday, June 4.
“Today is a very proud and meaningful day for the community as we officially open our new freestanding emergency room, outpatient imaging and lab services and a large multispeciality physician practice, all in one location,” Ray voiced at the ceremony. “It’s a one-stop-shop for comprehensive medical care right here in this community, serving the needs of every person.”
Ray, as well as state Rep. Johnny Chastain, R-Blue Ridge, shared their gratitude for late House Speaker David Ralston and his commitment to helping Piedmont secure state approval for the first freestanding emergency department in Georgia.
“This may be the largest ribbon cutting I’ve ever been to, but it says a lot for the vision,” Chastain said. “When you look all over the state, really all over this great 7th District, you’ll see where Speaker Ralston has been, what he’s done and how he’s helped get these projects started, many, many years ago.”
Project leaders gave shout outs where they were due to those that helped make this new health care facility happen, including various executives, physicians, Mountainside team members, engineers, public safety officials, designers, construction crews, vendors and more.
“This journey itself has been a long one … a building like this doesn’t just pop up, while it may seem like that,” Jay Hutchins, director of facilities at Piedmont Mountainside, said. “We’ve been working on this project for almost seven years really from some of the initial site work and just getting ourselves in line to make sure we can provide the highest level of care. For that, it takes an army to build a sort of building like this.”
The Piedmont Mountainside Outpatient Imaging Center, Piedmont Physicians Rheumatology Mountainside, Piedmont Heart of Ellijay, Piedmont Physicians Obstetrics and Gynecology Ellijay and Piedmont Physicians Primary Care of Ellijay are all officially open at the new building, located at 370 West Highlands Drive.
“This new facility represents Piedmont’s ongoing commitment to expanding access to high quality health care services in north Georgia,” Kevin Hoppe, chief operating officer of the Physician Enterprise at Piedmont Healthcare, shared. “Piedmont’s resources and network here in [East] Ellijay can help our patients develop personalized and preventative care that can lead to more positive outcomes.”
Dr. Asim Kidwai, family and medicine physician at Piedmont Mountainside, shared his thoughts on the state-of-the-art building and technology staff and patients now have access to. Getting imaging completed in a different facility used to be an issue, he said, but now they can just send patients down to the bottom floor.
“It’s always exciting to come into a new place, a brand-new building,” Dr. Kidwai said. “The biggest thing is the advantage for our patients, that everything’s in the same building. It’s much more accessible and much easier for patients to get the care that they need.”
Existing Piedmont locations around Gilmer County are no longer seeing patients. The Piedmont Mountainside Emergency Department is the last phase to be opened to the public. Emergency services will be active starting Thursday, June 12.