COLUMBUS COMMUNITY HOSPITAL - EXPANSION PROJECT UNDERWAY

Columbus Community Hospital

CEO James Vacek and Board Chair Pat Gillespie discuss improvements.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LYDIA FORD

Columbus Community Hospital is building a healthier community with its recent groundbreaking for construction of a new wellness center, as well as other improvements to their entire campus.

“Together, our team is building excellence in our community,” said James Vanek, CEO of Columbus Community Hospital. “And what do I mean by excellence? It’s that we take every patient seriously. We want them to have the best care that Columbus Community Hospital can provide.”

With changes going on in several departments, Vanek talked about the improvements that patients can come to expect in the near future at their hometown hospital. “We’re doing a major renovation within the hospital itself,” added Vanek. “We’re adding a couple of operating rooms, expanding our emergency room, our laboratory department, and making the flow in our hospital more congenial for our patients. Also, with that we’ve added some fantastic opportunities with our physical therapy department. It’s been a very good, active program and we’ve outgrown the space. We’re building a brand-new building that will encompass our physical therapy department, a pool, fitness center, and community room. It’s something this is most needed here on our campus.”

Elaborating on the changes to the physical therapy facility, Pat Gillespie, chair of the board of directors, joined Vanek in praising the plan to grow Columbus Community Hospital into a model facility.

“Having the wellness center, with physical therapy, right there on site is great,“ added Gillespie. “It helps people with injuries, our elderly who might be having difficulties, and having physical therapy right there to help out is going to serve our community extremely well.”

“We’ll have a demonstration kitchen,” shared Vanek. “For example, this can help diabetics learn new food preparations. We’re also adding a community room that will enable us to bring in physicians with healthcare information that we will be able to share with the community so they can plan the future in healthcare.”

Both Vanek and Gillespie understand that it takes truly talented doctors and staff to make a hospital great. Even with the finest facility in place, the search is always on to find only the very best for their patients and the community at large.

“As we look at the population growing, it’s very important to have a top-notch facility with really good doctors and an excellent staff,” said Gillespie. “We already have excellent doctors, excellent staff, but we heard in our needs assessment that we needed other doctors, other specialties. This enables us to go out and attract those doctors. It can be difficult for rural hospitals to attract really good doctors and when you have an excellent facility, then we have a much better chance of attracting those top-notch doctors.”

“It’s a win-win for the hospital, for the community, and for healthcare in Columbus,” added Vanek.

Columbus Community Hospital is located at 110 Shultz Drive and online at columbusch.com.

As we look at the population growing, it’s very important to have a top-notch facility with really good doctors and an excellent staff.

The main entrance of Columbus Community Hospital is pictured.