St. Joseph's/Candler Announces Pooler Micro Hospital
Staff Report From Savannah CEO
Friday, February 24th, 2017
St. Joseph’s/Candler plans to build a micro-hospital in Pooler that will offer a broad range of medical services for the growing population in west Chatham and nearby counties.
This new campus will be a destination center for patients travelling in from the region, where they will find a technologically advanced, concierge-level of service across many specialties.
“St. Joseph’s/Candler is a true regional health system and it is important that we place our resources where our patients are,” said Paul P. Hinchey, President & CEO of St. Joseph’s/Candler. “We recognize that they are busy and we don’t want to let a lack of access stop them from taking care of their healthcare needs.”
“This location is a perfect spot not only for the people of Pooler, but those in Statesboro, Richmond Hill, Hardeeville and further out who need to come to get crucial medical services but don’t want to drive into Savannah.”
Images of preliminary designs: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxGa3I9Ow2UgZjZlVVFLalRYekE
When complete, the 170,000-square-foot micro hospital will contribute to Pooler’s economic development by employing approximately 100 co-workers.
St. Joseph’s/Candler has been in Pooler since 1992 and has expanded services to correspond to the growth of the area. In addition to a thriving primary care practice, St. Joseph’s/Candler has built offices for specialty physicians and an advanced imaging center. But now is the time for more and to take St. Joseph’s/Candler’s advanced services to the community.
The new 18-acre campus will be located on Pooler Parkway near the intersection with Interstate 16. The project will be multi-phased and built out over a ten-year-period to create a multi-story, technologically advanced medical facility.
It will house offices for specialty and primary care offices in close proximity to key clinical services. The total estimated cost of the project is $62 million.
PHASE I
Phase I of the St. Joseph’s/Candler Pooler Campus will be about 61,000 square feet and cost $21 million. It will open in early 2019 and house distinct medical offices and clinical services.
The medical office building will contain:
- Primary Care Services
- Urgent Care Services
- Specialist offices
The clinical services portion will contain:
- Outpatient Surgery Services
- Endoscopy Services
- Advanced Imaging Services
- Outpatient Physical Therapy Services
- Pharmacy Services
- Laboratory Services
- Wellness Services
- Community Education Services
Phase II will include:
- Expanded primary care offices
- Expanded specialty offices
- Wound Care
- Cardiac rehab
- Occupational medicine
- Diagnostic cardiology
- Short stay observation beds
The St. Joseph’s/Candler Pooler Campus fills a significant community gap in the rapidly developing Pooler area. Many of the housing subdivisions are completely built out and others are filling up.
This key location will serve the populations of Pooler and west Chatham County, Effingham County, Bulloch County, Bryan County, Liberty County as well as Jasper County and Bluffton in South Carolina.
St. Joseph’s/Candler has been building a significant regional footprint – now with 87 provider locations spanning 33 counties in southeastern Georgia and South Carolina. The Pooler campus is a key strategy to better serve the patients who rely on our regional offices.
What is a micro-hospital?
In the past few years the health care industry has shifted dramatically from traditional in-patient services that involve longer hospital stays to more out-patient services, such as day surgery, imaging or non-invasive procedures that involve little or no time spent in the hospital for recovery.
These micro-hospitals address that shift and treat lower-acuity patients in locations near where patients live.
The outpatient services that patients need are perfect for the setting that St. Joseph’s/Candler is creating for the Pooler campus. The services will the convenient for patients who are visiting primary care and specialty doctors on the campus and don’t have to drive into Savannah to have important procedures, labs or imaging done.
“These facilities are the future of healthcare,” Hinchey said. “We have designed the Pooler campus so we can easily adapt to any changes in the healthcare industry that come in the next 25 years.”