New ER facilities planned in Franklin, Eaton

The Kettering Health Network has announced plans to construct two freestanding emergency centers in Eaton and Franklin.

The network — which operates eight regional hospitals — said both emergency departments will be 11,400 square feet and cost between $9 million and $10 million. Nearly 80 jobs will be created with the construction of the two facilities, officials estimated.

The Franklin ER will be built on a seven-acre site in the area of Ohio 73 near southbound Interstate 75. The Eaton facility will be located on the campus of Preble County Medical Center, on 10 acres owned by the Preble County Youth Foundation, according to Elizabeth Long, spokeswoman for Kettering Health.

“We see a need to offer emergency services in the Eaton and Franklin communities,” said Fred Manchur, chief executive officer of Kettering Health Network. “With these freestanding ERs, residents will have better and faster access to quality emergency care closer to home.”

The ERs are expected to open in early 2015, and are being designed and built by Synergy Building Systems.

The Eaton emergency center is anticipated to create between 25 and 30 new jobs, employ four physicians and house between eight and 12 patient rooms.

The Franklin location will also support four physicians, but is expected to create between 35 and 40 new jobs, including registered nurses, respiratory therapists and imaging technicians. Franklin’s site will include 12 patient rooms, according to Kettering Health.

Richard Haas, president of Grandview and Southview, said the hospital network has opened more than a dozen ambulatory and outpatient care centers in areas of the region being underserved. He said two areas for growth include Preble County and a stretch of I-75 near Franklin.

“Health care is moving to more outpatient centers,” Haas said. “It’s an opportunity to serve patients closer to their home.”

The Preble County Medical Center has operated for at least 10 years, Haas said. The Eaton campus includes five family practice physicians, specialty services such as vascular and cardiac, an outpatient pharmacy, general surgery and lab and imaging services.

Haas said the freestanding ERs will be able to handle most emergencies just as any hospital. He said major traumas and events such as a heart attack and stroke will require the patient to be stabilized and then transferred to a full hospital.

Emergency care in Warren County is also available 24 hours at TriHealth’s Bethesda Arrow Springs in Lebanon and Atrium Medical Center near the county line in Middletown.

Kettering Health Network operates Fort Hamilton, Greene Memorial and Kettering Behavioral hospitals, and the medical centers of Grandview, Kettering, Sycamore, Southview and Soin.

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