Piedmont Mountainside Holds Ten Year Anniversary Celebration

Piedmont Mountainside Hospital celebrated 10 years of serving patients last Thursday (August 14). CEO Denise Ray quizzed attendees on hospital history and told the staff with obvious emotion:

“You all should be very proud. I mean it from the bottom of my heart. You’re the folks that made this happen. I work for you so you can take care of the county.”

What was long ago Pickens County General Hospital (and then purchased from Sun Link Health systems) Piedmont Mountainside also owns and operates hospitals in Fayetteville, Newnan, Stockbridge, and Buckhead (Atlanta).

In 2004, the facility had 35 beds. It now has 58, including 6 intensive care unit beds.

The facility serves patients regularly from Pickens, Gilmer, Fannin, counties and, according to Ray, patients often come from Tennessee and North Carolina.

The emergency room most often has 2 physicians and 2 Physician Assistants on duty. Patient emergency visits routinely exceed 200 per day.

In 2013, Piedmont became “Chest pain certified.” This designation requires that a hospital facility adopt several protocols for care in stabilizing or treating patients in cardiac events. The hospital staff prides itself in stabilizing and delivering patients (‘door to door’) experiencing a cardiac episode quickly (often in less than an hour).

The hospital has assisted in 3,332 births since 2004.

Piedmont Mountainside has over 200 physicians with staff privileges. However, telemedicine is also heavily utilized- especially in cardiac cases. The hospital also provides extensive orthopedic and ear nose and throat (ENT) specialty services.