The new facility will replace the Old Siloam Road hospital that has served Greene County for more than 60 years.

St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital will open its modern new facility at 5401 Lake Oconee Parkway at 7 a.m. on Nov. 25, hospital officials announced.

Also, as previously announced, St. Mary’s will host a Community Open House on Sunday, Nov. 10, from 2-5 p.m. at the new facility. The event will be free and everyone is invited. Parking will be provided on campus, with shuttle service for those who need assistance getting to and from their vehicle.

“I’m very excited that we will be opening our new hospital before Thanksgiving,” said St. Mary’s Good Samaritan President Montez Carter. “When we announced we’d be opening in 2013, months ahead of schedule, we thought Christmas would be our target. Instead, work has gone even faster than expected and we’ve moved the opening up another whole month.”

Carter praised general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie, Earl Architects and the small army of subcontractors working night and day to build the new hospital. “We’ve had an amazing partnership with our architect, project management team, lead contractor, sub-contractors and our own staff to make this possible, months ahead of schedule and within budget. We have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.”

“St. Mary’s pulled together a terrific team to make this new, state-of-the-art hospital a reality,” said Joe Gorman, President of St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Board of Directors. “From day one, St. Mary’s promised this community a modern new facility that can meet the vast majority of our community’s health care needs right here, in our community, and they have delivered.”

The 25-bed critical access hospital will include new equipment and furnishings, three new surgical suites, spacious patient rooms, ample natural lighting, a chapel, a cafeteria and other amenities designed to promote healing.

“We are working hard to make the new hospital the most modern and comfortable healing environment possible,” Carter said. “For example, the new Good Samaritan Hospital will feature advanced medical systems to help our staff deliver state-of-the-art care, from medical gasses to an advanced telemetry system rarely found in hospitals this size.”

Many of the hospital’s most advanced amenities are possible through the generosity of community donors, Gorman noted, including the telemetry system that will allow staff to monitor patient vital signs remotely.

“St. Mary’s has invested $40 million to provide our community with a state-of-the-art critical access hospital,” he said. “We are now raising $8 million in additional funds from the community to help equip our hospital with technology and services normally found only in larger medical centers. Our local donations will allow our citizens to receive even more of the care they need right here, close to home.”

The Nov. 10 open house will allow the community to tour the new hospital and learn about its advanced capabilities. Following short welcoming remarks, Good Samaritan staff will lead guided tours of the new facility, including the new hospital’s surgical suites, emergency department, rehabilitation gyms, imaging suite, chapel and spacious patient rooms. Light refreshments will be served.

After the open house, St. Mary’s will begin final preparations for the actual opening on Nov. 25. Work will include cleaning the whole building and sterilizing certain areas such as the surgical suites. Workers also will be installing equipment and furnishings and helping staff move patient records and other irreplaceable materials from the current facility.

Also during this time, Good Samaritan leaders will be working with EMS providers and the general community to ensure people are aware of when they need to start going to the new hospital.

The official opening time will be 7 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 25, Carter said. Beginning then, emergency patients will go to the new facility on Lake Oconee Parkway for care. Inpatients at the current facility on Siloam Road will be discharged or transported to the new hospital, as needed. Outpatient appointments for Nov. 25 and beyond will be scheduled at the new facility.

“We will bring in extra staff to make the transition as seamless as possible for our patients,” Carter noted. “It’s an extra step we feel is important to make sure we meet the needs of our patients and our community.”

At some point on Nov. 25 – maybe a few minutes after 7 a.m., maybe a few hours – the last patient will leave the old hospital on Siloam Road. Carter said it will be a bittersweet moment.

“We recognize this hospital means so much to so many people,” he said. “It has served this community well for more than 60 years, and it has been our privilege to continue expanding its healing mission. We are proud to be entrusted with building on the hard work, dedication and commitment of the men and women who came before us. We honor what they have done for health care in the greater Greene County area, and we are proud to stand on their shoulders as we raise the bar even higher.”