“We’re very excited about it,” said Matt Owen, executive director of the Preble County Chamber of Commerce. “It’s wonderful from an economic development and job-creation standpoint, but even more important is that it will offer emergency department services to the people of Preble County in what could be a life-or-death situation.”
The emergency department, which will be located at 450 Washington-Jackson Road in Eaton, is expected to open in early 2015. The facility will have eight to 12 rooms and will be staffed by four physicians. It will be accredited through Grandview Medical Center.
KHN is building a similar emergency department near Ohio 73 and I-75 in Franklin in Warren County.
Owen said a survey of the chamber of commerce’s members and its members’ employees showed both the need and the strong desire among local residents for a local emergency department.
Richard Haas, president of Grandview and Southview hospitals, said in March that the Eaton and Franklin emergency departments will be able to handle most medical emergencies, although major traumas and events such as a heart attack or stroke will require a patient to be stabilized and then transferred to a full hospital for specialized treatment.
Kettering Health Network has opened more than a dozen ambulatory and outpatient care centers in areas of the region that are underserved, Haas said.
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