Memorial Hospital’s Significant Investment Attracts New Physicians
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With an ambitious, ongoing renovation and improvement agenda, Memorial Hospital is proving that high-tech medicine can thrive in a small-town setting.
The 220-bed hospital, which is owned and operated by LifePoint Hospitals, is a full-service facility for Martinsville and its surrounding communities. In recent years, the hospital has undergone significant physical improvements, including a $5.8 million overhaul and expansion of its ambulatory surgery center, as well as equipment upgrades that include a 64-slice CT scanner, picture archiving and communications system and plasma screen in the orthopedic surgery suite. All told, some $40 million has been spent at the hospital since 2002, and there’s no slowing down anytime soon.
“We have added IMRT [intensity-modulated radiation therapy] in our radiation oncology department at the Ravenel Oncology Center,” says Darren Aaron, director of growth and business development for Memorial. “It allows us to treat tumors with a higher dosage of radiation while protecting surrounding sensitive tissue. We’re seeing a lot of new patients since that was added, people who, before, were going to other facilities for their treatment.”
Providing more services locally is key to all upgrades at Memorial, which include an overhaul of its existing MRI equipment to allow for increased clarity of images and additional studies, as well as the planned introduction of a second, open MRI machine that will allow for larger patients. In addition, the hospital plans to offer digital mammography services to meet community demand, Aaron says.
“We are doing a lot of awareness programs in the community, letting people know what we have here, and [what we] are getting,” he says. “Most people don’t want to travel for their health care, so we’re working to make sure the community knows what we’re doing.”
That awareness also extends positively to the hospital’s physician recruitment efforts.
“We bring doctors in to look at the hospital, but also the area,” says Carol McGovern, director of physician recruitment. “We want them to see where they’re going to live, and the quality of life here. We also are able to showcase the collegial nature of our medical staff and our vision for the hospital. They leave here knowing what kind of medicine we’re practicing – that our hospital is always current, that we’re always researching and on top.
We make sure that they know that even though this is a small town, they can practice a very advanced quality of medicine here.”
LifePoint is making a nationwide push to recruit doctors to its hospitals, and Memorial is holding up its end of the bargain by hosting at least two site visits a month. Based on what McGovern is hearing as a result, Memorial Hospital is considered very much a draw for prospective new doctors.
“They are overwhelmed with the amount of technology we have in a city this size,” she says. “The hospital tour is always the highlight of the visit. With the equipment and all the renovations, the physicians say they feel like they’re in a brand-new hospital.”
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by Ian Curcio
