A new hospital is coming to Newnan. Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) at Southeastern Regional Medical Center will open on Aug. 15.
The for-profit health care system specializes in treating complex and advanced-stage cancer.
Gloria Barnes, assistant vice president of patient care services, is happy with the warm welcome she has received from the metro Atlanta community and is “extremely pleased” with the quality of the health care work force she’s found in Georgia.
Barnes, RN, MSN, has been interviewing nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals for several months. The organization hosted job fairs that drew about 1,500 applicants.
“The people we are seeing are amazing. Our difficulty has been choosing from among so many qualified candidates,” Barnes said.
The hospital plans to hire 100 new employees in the first year, transferring another third of the new hospital’s staff from its other medical centers. It plans to continue hiring for the next five years, creating about 500 new jobs in metro Atlanta, and making an estimated $500 million economic impact on the region.
The growing organization also has medical centers near Chicago, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Tulsa, Okla.
The 226,000-square-foot facility will house 35 inpatient beds, 60 onsite guest rooms for outpatients and their families, operating rooms, a diagnostic imaging center, a rehabilitation gym, a dining room, a fitness center and a chapel.
When choosing Newnan as the site for its fifth hospital, CTCA listened to its patients, Barnes said. Many of them were travelling from the Southeast and favored a hospital closer to home. About two-thirds of the new facility’s patients will come from out of state, a condition for CTCA to receive permission from the Georgia Legislature to open a new hospital in Georgia.
Cancer Treatment Centers of America was founded in 1988 by Richard J. Stephenson after his mother passed away from cancer. Not satisfied with the care she had received, Stephenson vowed to improve cancer care.
“We focus all our efforts solely on adult oncology. Complicated and advanced cancer is our niche and we have a unique care model,” Barnes said. “It’s a patient-empowered model that puts the patient at the center of all decisions and care.”
The hospital staff provides all diagnostic, medical and treatment services under one roof, including complementary services that include oncology rehabilitation, nutrition, mind/body healing techniques and naturopathic and spiritual practices to help patients fight cancer.
“We believe in giving our patients the whole toolbox and delivering the care that the patient values,” Barnes said. “Our staff works together as a team, and each plan is individual.
“We are committed to what we call ‘the mother standard of care,’ named for the founder’s mother, Mary Brown Stephenson. Basically, it means that we treat patients as we would want our mother or other family member to be treated.”
The specialty hospital is also committed to continuous process improvement that builds on Six Sigma quality and lean system techniques to provide the best care most efficiently.
“We continuously ask our patients about what they value and we hear over and over that what matters is rapid answers, quality care and attention to their needs,” Barnes said. “From our top administrators down to the provider at the bedside, we are continuously asking ourselves what we can do better.”
Being a for-profit organization allows CTCA to invest profits in state-of-the-art technology and equipment.
The hospital is looking for nurses (inpatient, outpatient, infusion, ICU and surgery), surgical technicians, rehabilitation therapists, respiratory therapists, sterile processing technicians, pharmacists and registered nurse case managers.
“Clinical skills are always important, but we are just as interested that new employees fit into our model of care. We want to know how they treat patients, how they interact with family members. Communication skills and attitude are important,” Barnes said.
The organization’s salary and benefits are comparable with other health care organizations in the Southeast, and include a comprehensive wellness plan.
“We are looking for people who have a passion for working with oncology patients and their family members,” Barnes said. “What we do best is listen to our patients and make a personalized care plan for each one. We enable our patients to play an active role in fighting what is often the battle of their lives. We want people who consider oncology a calling and who want to make a difference in their patients’ lives.”
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