State Approves Additional 28 Beds for FirstHealth Hospital in Hoke County
| Date Posted: 11/29/2012
PINEHURST – The North Carolina Division of Health Service Regulation has conditionally approved FirstHealth of the Carolinas’ 2012 Certificate of Need request for 28 beds and a second operating room to be added to its Hoke Community Hospital.
“We are pleased the state saw the merit in our applications,” says FirstHealth CEO David J. Kilarski. “The building of FirstHealth Hoke Community Hospital is well under way, and we are looking forward to opening the doors of the new hospital. Because we are eager to complete construction and give Hoke County its first hospital, we hope this certificate of need approval will move forward without delay and the costly burden of appeals.”
Initial plans for FirstHealth’s Hoke Community Hospital included a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week emergency room as well as inpatient beds, an overnight observation unit and an operating room, full laboratory services, state-of-the-art imaging technology, diagnostic cardiology and transport options via critical care transport or helicopter.
The original hospital strategy also included the option for expansion involving additional inpatient beds, medical office space, and other health care-related services and facilities on a 30-acre medical complex site located on Highway 401. These 28 beds and additional operating room fit right in to that strategy.
“Speaking as a longtime resident of Hoke County, I think it’s exciting to see that Hoke County’s first hospital will soon be a reality and I know these additional beds will serve our community well,” says Julian King, chair of the FirstHealth of the Carolinas Board of Directors. “A hometown hospital strengthens the sense of community, and I am pleased residents will have FirstHealth-quality health care in Hoke County. FirstHealth has honored its commitment to Hoke County, and our services will be even more accessible with these additional beds.”
FirstHealth began providing health services in Hoke County with physician practices in the early 1990s and soon afterward built a multi-million-dollar Family Care Center and Center for Health & Fitness in Raeford. Dental care services were added for Medicaid and low-income eligible children, and FirstHealth eventually began coordinating specialist visits to enhance the scope of offerings available to Hoke County residents.
