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Article Category: Newsroom

Wellstar Kennestone's New Emergency Department is Now Open

Published on July 20, 2020

Last updated 11:30 PM August 20, 2020

New Kennestone Emergency Department

Wellstar Kennestone Hospital's New Emergency Department

At Wellstar, not one patient, symptom or treatment plan is the same—even in an emergency. Now, the new, state-of-the-art emergency department (ED) at Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center delivers quality and compassionate care to every patient, every time.

Located just north of metro Atlanta, this 263,000 sq. ft. medical facility is one of the largest and busiest EDs in the nation and:

  • It is one of only three Level II trauma centers in metro Atlanta.
  • Increased its bed-count from 84 to 166 beds (130 universal beds and 36 transition beds).
  • It is one of four Joint Commission Comprehensive Stroke Centers in Georgia.
  • It is the only Joint Commission Certified Comprehensive Cardiac Center in the state and seventh in the nation.
  • Can treat more than 600 patients a day—nearly doubling its previous capacity—with up to 220,000 patient visits per year.
  • It has 170 parking spaces for patients on the street level, accessible from Cherokee Street.

At Wellstar, we make an impact on the lives of real people every day. The emergency department at Wellstar Kennestone is the next step in providing world-class care for the people and the communities we serve.

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Tour Kennestone's Emergency Department

Designed with Care in Mind

From top to bottom, the new Kennestone ED offers emergent care for patients and families, at every age and stage of life.

The design provides benefits for patient care, including rapid access to treatment, an innovative, family-centered functional layout, and new processes and procedures based on best practices to reduce wait times, expedite discharges and enhance patient experiences.

The facility is also built with separate care zones based on medical service, level of care and age—all to better meet our patients’ needs.

Some unique features of the ED include:


Pediatrics

The full-service, 16-room pediatric area includes a sick and injured lobby, pediatric imaging suite, isolation and behavioral health capability. A separate designated ambulance and ambulatory entrances limit children’s exposure to adult trauma patients and infection.


Behavioral Health

On the second floor, a preferred, 12-bed zone provides a safe space for specialized behavior and crisis intervention. This area includes an activity room for patients to socialize, eat meals and perform activities.


Transition Area

Universal treatment rooms provide the capacity to best care for our patients. With 60 percent of hospital admissions coming from the ED, a transitional area for patients awaiting admission helps improve patient care and experiences.

Patients will have admission databases completed, admission orders written, and care continued as they transition to the appropriate inpatient unit.


Trauma/High Acuity

The ED features a separate trauma/high acuity ambulance entrance. The area includes RSve designated trauma rooms (with three rooms having direct access to CT imaging) and seven designated high acuity rooms (with two rooms having patient ceiling lifts).


Compassionate Care

After the loss of a loved one, Wellstar recognizes a family’s need for grieving. Two private viewing areas allow families to spend time with loved ones after they pass away.

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Kennestone Hospital Emergency Care Media Room
Related Articles

Newsroom

Wellstar scales up emotional intelligence training using VR technology

This month Wellstar Health System announced it is extending its partnership with Moth+Flame to further utilize its virtual reality (VR) training technology throughout the enterprise.

Moth+Flame is an award-winning VR communication technology developer and premier enterprise-grade immersive learning provider offering innovative and adaptive learning programs for mastering technical and cognitive skills. Their platform includes content focused on emotional intelligence. When learners put on their headsets, they inhabit and interact with immersive simulated environments. They decide in the moment how to respond and see for themselves the impact their words and decisions have on others—and reflect on how to improve. Trainees receive an empathy rating score at the end of their session.

Last May, Catalyst by Wellstar led Wellstar’s first-ever VR-based leadership development training in collaboration with Moth+Flame. This was Moth+Flame’s first healthcare partnership, and the use of this technology continues to expand within Wellstar’s enterprise.

Following the training, 97% of participants recommend the virtual learning experience to others. They also reported that the training reduced their anxiety around difficult conversations by 57%. As a result of the successful pilot, Wellstar decided to offer VR emotional intelligence training regularly.

“We believe strongly that immersive learning is the future of learning and builds more confidence through practice,” said Kevin Cornish, CEO and founder at Moth+Flame. “Using virtual reality puts you inside of a difficult conversation and gives you a chance to learn in a safe simulated environment.”

The VR emotional intelligence training encourages Wellstar’s employees to build composure and gain practical experience in a highly realistic scenario by navigating difficult conversations and testing resiliency in an emotionally charged environment. This experience helps Wellstar’s workforce develop strategies to build situational awareness and prioritize composure, critical thinking, and conscious emotional responses when engaging in triggering conversations.

By gaining conversational expertise and knowledge, Wellstar’s team will know how to respond in real scenarios with the confidence to interact appropriately and strategically.

“The realism within Moth+Flame's VR experiences, from using real-life actors, dramatically increases the emotional connection to the content and helps learners retain the information they learn. We are grateful for Moth+Flame's partnership in helping introduce VR to our leaders,” said Steven LeClercq, executive director of learning and onboarding at Wellstar Health System.

This use of innovation keeps Wellstar on the leading edge of training and team development, and the organization will continue to explore use cases for this technology within a clinical setting.

Keep reading
Ashley was able to recover from cardiac arrest and walk down the aisle.

PeopleCare

AshleyCare

In March of 2021, Ashley Martin suffered cardiac arrest, which kills about 90% of people when it happens outside of a hospital. Thankfully, she was already at Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center receiving the compassionate care she’d been seeking to address a long list of symptoms.

Everything began at a hectic time in Ashley’s life. She was 30 and had just gotten engaged. Wedding planning had started with the help of her fiancé and their two young boys. The hope had been to have the wedding toward the end of 2021. But the unexpected happened.

“I was always healthy,” she said. “I grew up playing sports. I was a runner. I used to get headaches, but that was the extent of my medical history.”

Finding the right care when there is more than one symptom

Symptoms of what would ultimately be diagnosed as Guillain-Barré syndrome began in February of 2021. This rare neurological disorder causes the body’s immune system to attack the nerves. 

Ashley started experiencing tingling in the tips of her hands and feet, which moved up her legs and arms as days passed. When intermittent numbness became a symptom, Ashley went to a hospital near her Peachtree City home. A clean CT and MRI meant she went home with plans to see a rheumatologist.

As she waited for her first appointment, she started feeling numbness in her feet.

“At one point, I took a step down the stairs and went tumbling down to the concrete floor,” Ashley said. 

On another trip to the hospital near her home, Ashley was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, but treatment was unsuccessful. The numbness continued, spreading to her face. She began using a walker and, soon after, a wheelchair.

“The paralysis had moved to my abdomen,” Ashley said. “I went to sleep one night and woke up abruptly gasping for air.”

Compassionate medical care at a pivotal point

 Later that night, an ambulance brought Ashley to Wellstar Kennestone, where she would finally get the specialized neuro care she desperately needed. She was admitted to the Neurocritical Care unit, staffed by physicians, nurses and a medical team with specialized training in neurological conditions.

Upon arrival, she underwent respiratory failure due to paralysis spreading to her diaphragm. She was stabilized, but shortly after that, she experienced sudden cardiac arrest — the abrupt loss of heart function that stops blood flow to the body.

After a critical care nurse administered CPR, Ashley’s heart started beating again. Life support medications were given to keep her heart pumping.

“The neuro ICU nurses and doctors saved my life,” she said.

Later, her attending neurologist explained that the stress of her nervous system and immune system fighting, paired with respiratory failure, caused such high stress that she had a cardiac arrest.

Keep reading
Exterior photo of Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center. Wellstar and Joint Commission logos.

Newsroom

Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center Receives Comprehensive Stroke Center Certification

Wellstar Health System announced today that The Joint Commission recognized Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center as a Comprehensive Stroke Center, the most demanding stroke certification recognizing hospitals that have specific abilities to receive and treat the most complex stroke cases. With two of the eight Comprehensive Stroke Centers in Georgia, Wellstar Health System now offers stroke patients greater access to the highest level of stroke and aneurysm care. Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center is also Joint Commission certified as a Comprehensive Stroke Center.

“For years, we have provided world-class stroke care for each and every patient when they need it most. This designation represents how hard we have worked to provide the very best quality care for patients in North Fulton County and across Georgia. We’re proud that our work and subsequent positive patient outcomes are being recognized,” said Dr. Michael Mendoza, medical director of the Stroke Program at Wellstar North Fulton.

Wellstar North Fulton’s certification allows more Georgians to have access to the most advance diagnostics and treatments for cerebrovascular disease such as stroke. This is important because Georgia is located in the Stroke Belt, which is comprised of 11 states in the Southeast where the associated mortality rate for stroke patients is 10 percent above the national average.

At Wellstar North Fulton and Wellstar Kennestone, patients have access to advanced diagnostics and therapies to care for even the most complicated strokes faster and more effectively. These include:

  • Neuro Intensive Care Units –  A multidisciplinary team of physicians and nurses who specialize in neurocritical care.
  • Minimally-invasive treatment – Wellstar is one of only four programs in the state that offer neuroendovascular treatment, such as minimally-invasive clot retrieval, patients can be provided with a much less invasive treatment technique.
  • Cutting-edge imaging – Neurointerventional biplane imaging shows detailed, 3D views of blood vessels in the brain. This allows neurosurgeons to flip neuroendovascular cases to an open neurosurgical case when needed.
  • Pioneering technology – Wellstar North Fulton was among the first hospitals in the country to use the groundbreaking Artemis Neuro Evacuation device to treat brain bleeds, a condition that was nearly impossible to treat in the past.
  • Around-the-clock care – Artificial intelligence such as VizAi allows quicker identification of patients who are candidates for thrombectomy and organizes care in a connected system by quicker response to identify and provide care as quickly as possible.

“Our team of neurosurgeons, neurocritical care physicians, neuroradiologists, advanced practice practitioners and nurses work together to perform world-class thrombectomies, aneurysm treatments, carotid surgeries and cerebral bypass procedures so that patients can regain their best quality of life. Additionally, our dedicated hybrid neurovascular suite is equipped with innovative bi-plane technology. This allows neurosurgeons to view highly detailed images of brain vessels, so we as a team can customize treatments in real time,” said Dr. Arthur Grigorian, neurosurgeon, Wellstar North Fulton.

“When you have a stroke, every second counts. Getting fast, expert stroke care can mean the difference between life, death, or lasting brain damage. We are proud to receive this prestigious certification at Wellstar North Fulton, informing the surrounding community that they don’t have to go far to receive the best treatment possible. We will continue to work hard to provide an interdisciplinary, innovative, and compassionate approach to safe and quality comprehensive stroke care to all the communities we serve,” said Jon-Paul Croom, president, Wellstar North Fulton and senior vice president, Wellstar Health System.

Wellstar is a leading provider of stroke and aneurysm services in Georgia and performs one of the highest numbers of thrombectomy and aneurysm treatments in the country. The Joint Commission is a United States-based nonprofit organization that accredits more than 22,000 healthcare organizations and programs.

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