FAIRVIEW, Tenn. (WTVF) — Fairview residents will soon have access to emergency medical care much closer to home, as Ascension St. Thomas plans to build a new emergency room on Fairview Boulevard East.
Currently, people living in Fairview must travel up to 40 minutes to Nashville for emergency care. The proposed facility aims to change that with a comprehensive healthcare approach.
"Folks have had to travel into Nashville for that care. What we're presenting is a more comprehensive approach to health care in Fairview including a 24/7 ER co-located with local physicians," Ascension St. Thomas CEO Fahad Tahir said.
Tahir shared renderings of the planned building, which would feature services mirroring the quality of the hospital system's full emergency rooms in Nashville. The facility would include 10 emergency room beds, two triage rooms and one trauma room.
"Our goal is to keep patients close to home. Should they need more complex care, we coordinate transfers to our Ascension St. Thomas West campus in Nashville," Tahir said.
Transfers would be coordinated through Ascension's own ambulance network, which Tahir says reduces costs. While the emergency room would help Fairview residents get care much faster, patients may still face transfers to Nashville for more complex medical needs.
The facility will also house Dickson Medical Associates, which will offer primary care services so residents won't have to travel to Nashville for routine medical needs.
"To the extent we can keep care closer to home and avoid transitions to Nashville, we try to do that. It reduces cost and the burden of travel for families," Tahir said.
It's important to note there are other options for urgent care and primary care doctors in Fairview, which are generally less expensive than emergency room visits.
The project still requires approval from the state's healthcare facilities commission. Tahir says they will gather community support through public hearings and letters. If approved, construction could start later this year.
The public hearing for the project will be scheduled for April 22.
Have questions about healthcare access in your community or want to share your experiences with emergency care in Fairview? We want to hear from you. Email Kim at kim.rafferty@NewsChannel5.com and watch our full video report to see the renderings of the proposed facility.
In this article, we used artificial intelligence to help us convert a video news report originally written by Kim Rafferty. When using this tool, both Kim and the NewsChannel 5 editorial team verified all the facts in the article to make sure it is fair and accurate before we published it. We care about your trust in us and where you get your news, and using this tool allows us to convert our news coverage into different formats so we can quickly reach you where you like to consume information. It also lets our journalists spend more time looking into your story ideas, listening to you and digging into the stories that matter.
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