Work Moves Ahead on Wound Care Center in Toccoa

Stephens County Hospital’s planned wound care center continues to move forward.

According to Stephens County Hospital Administrator Ed Gambrell, crews have finished pouring the concrete foundation to the building and are beginning to put some up some steel beams.

Gambrell said finishing the foundation marks a major milestone in the construction of the building.

“Now the actual construction of the building can begin and it will not be so dependent on weather as it has been,” said Gambrell. “The project has been slow in getting started, just because of all of the rain we have had since Christmas.”

The hospital is building its wound care center on Falls Road.

Site work on the project started in February and hospital officials had hoped to open the facility around Labor Day.

However, Gambrell said the weather has caused some fairly significant delays.

“The rain has really slowed us up about a month to six weeks probably through this whole process so far,” said Gambrell. “But it is just one of these things that you cannot control and you cannot help and you just have to work around it.”

Bowen and Watson is handling construction of the wound care center for Stephens County Hospital.

Gambrell said the new goal is to have the facility ready to open around October.

“It will be a fast construction job,” said Gambrell. “The building is relatively small, for Bowen and Watson anyway. It is about 4,200 square feet. They feel confident they will be through by sometime in October.”

The wound care center is costing Stephens County Hospital approximately $840,000.

Stephens County Hospital is also working with Diversified Clinical Services out of Jacksonville, Florida, on the wound care center.

Charlie Bauder