Northside Hospital improved medical offerings in Dawson County with the opening of its expanded imaging center on Monday.
"We're excited about being up here in Dawson County," said CEO Skip Putnam. "This is just part of our expansion and we're going to continue to expand services up here in this area. We appreciate everyone's support and we look forward to a very long relationship with Dawson County."
The hospital purchased the property at 91 Nordson Overlook in March with plans to move and expand its imaging center, which opened on Dawson Commons Circle three year ago.
In addition to the new imaging center, the 34,500-square-feet medical office will house Northside's urgent care practice and a variety of specialty physicians.
Cynthia Blount, administrator at the Dawson campus, said Northside wants to bring in physicians whose specialties are not currently available in Dawson County.
"For the past several months, we've been talking to the community and other physicians as to what they need referrals for in the area," she said. "We're looking at orthopedics, urology, OB-GYN. We have a lot of space open on the third floor and the second floor for physicians wanting to bring in specialties that we don't have access to right now."
Charlie Auvermann, executive director of the Development Authority of Dawson County, said Northside's plans for continued expansion along the busy Ga. 400 corridor shows the hospital system's trust in Dawson County and the future of the area.
"They've expanded and they've gone beyond that in the sense that they purchased enough land and have enough capacity to expand again," he said. "Northside's always been a professional, high quality medical organization, and now we're part of a system that can take you to the highest level of care that you need, whether it's just local or whether you need to have some major procedures.
"I'm thrilled that they are here, and I'm thrilled they show that kind of confidence in our economy and our county."
Northside is planning to hold two open-house receptions on Dec. 3 in celebration of the urgent care center's opening.
"We'll have one from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at lunch and another from 5 to 7 p.m.," Blount said. "We're really excited."