3 minute read
HEALTH ON THE MOUNTAIN
Local health care continues to grow to serve Boone
BY PATRICK MCCORMACK
Boone is the health care center of the High Country, and the medical district — anchored by Watauga Medical Center — has continued to expand and add new state-ofthe-art facilities.
Most recently, an expansion at Watauga Medical Center is nearly complete. The $126 million construction project is structural and technological improvements to ensure the delivery of premier health care into the future. The 48bed Schaefer Family Patient
SEE HEALTH ON PAGE 70 PHOTO COURTESY ARHS The Watauga Medical Center viewed aerially, is the hub of all nearly all medical specialization in the High Country.
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Care Tower is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. The building will house larger patient rooms to accommodate high-tech mobile medical equipment, state-of-the-art surgical suites, an updated Emergency Department, women’s health services, imaging and laboratory services, and new waiting waiting areas.
Visit apprhs.org/wmc-expansion to learn more.
The new Schaefer Family Patient Care Tower will expand the number of beds at Watauga Medical Center from 117 to 165 beds. In addition to the extra services provided by the new facility, Watauga Medical Center offers both primary and secondary acute and specialty care. The hospital campus also includes outpatient clinics and a diagnostics center.
Watauga Medical Center is part of the Boone-based Appalachian Regional Healthcare System.
ARHS offers access to three hospitals, 15 medical offices and 27 outpatient services. In addition ARHS partners with the Appalachian Regional Medical Associates medical practice group, who assist in providing healthcare access to residents of the High Country and the surrounding communities. The multi specialty group offers services including family medicine, gastroenterology, general surgery, gynecology, internal medicine, obstetrics, orthopedics, pulmonology, rheumatology, thoracic surgery, urology, vascular surgery and women’s health. Each ARMA medical office utilizes a record system that allows patients to easily transition from one ARMA practice to another.
Located just across the street from Watauga Medical Center is the 203,000 squarefoot Leon Levine Hall of Health Sciences. It is one Appalachian State University’s newest academic buildings.
On 68 acres just south of Boone is the Foley Center at Chestnut Ridge, which opened in 2016 and is now part of Liberty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Services. The Foley Center provides short-term rehabilitation services, skilled nursing and assisted living care. Other nursing assistant living facilities in the Boone area include Glenbridge Health and Rehabilitation and Deerfield Ridge Assisted Living. Community health options for uninsured and under-insured patients include AppHealthCare (formerly Appalachian District Health Department), High Country Community Health and the Community Care Clinic, which provide affordable primary care, behavioral health and dental services.
PHOTO COURTESY ARHS An exterior view of the Emergency Department at the Watauga Medical Center in Boone, NC.
ARHS 2020 STATISTICS (MOST RECENTLY REPORTED)
• 25,523 emergency room visits • 7,798 surgeries performed
• 1,442 heart catheterizations performed • 559 babies delivered • 886 sleep studies
ARHS COLLABORATIVE AND COMMUNITY PARTNERS
• AppHealthCare • Community Care Clinic • Hunger and Health Coalition • App State College of Health Sciences • Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care • Wake Forest Health Emergency Services • UNC Lineberger Cancer Center • Appalachian Regional Medical Associates
