ATLANTA — Northeast Georgia Medical Center is applying to become a Level 1 trauma center, constructing a new patient tower and may soon have a new way to help patients in dire need.
Sen. Jon Ossoff visited the Gainesville facility on Wednesday to announce his initiative to bring the medical center a helipad. It would be an addition to the North Patient Tower currently in construction.
A helipad is often a sign of a Level 1 trauma center and a tool for trauma departments that may serve remote areas. NGMC is currently designated as a Level 2 trauma facility but has applied to upgrade its designation.
"I am delivering a new helipad to sit atop this tower to ensure that trauma patients who are brought to this hospital get the immediate care that they need," Ossoff said Wednesday.
NMGC would join the nearly two dozen medical facilities in metro Atlanta with a helipad to serve patients in need of urgent care.
"We all know that in a trauma case every second counts," he said.
This addition comes as NGMC has set its sights on expanding its care and upgrading its facility. With a Level 1 designation means it could provide total care for every aspect of an injury -- from prevention through rehab. It would also help fine-tune more specialized care across departments, including pediatric care and internal medicine.
At the moment, Northeast Georgia Medical Center's designation means it strictly focuses on patient care and may choose to outsource more delicate procedures like heart surgeries to Level 1 centers. If its upgraded designation is approved, it will have to put a focus on community outreach, public education and research.
Though a helipad could help upgrade NGMC's care, Ossoff said it's the staff that makes it a top-graded medical facility.
"The nurses and doctors and techs who work here are heroes who serve our community every day and they have my gratitude and I know gratitude of the whole state," Ossoff said.
Currently, the state lists four Level 1 trauma centers in Georgia following last year's closure of Wellstar's Atlanta Medical Center.