Certainly one of the most vital parts of any community is its local hospital – and many rural areas have unfortunately lost that vital component due to a number of reasons; fortunately, Cherokee County has retained its local medical facility and the future looks bright following the purchase of the local hospital by Floyd Medical Center.
That move brought much-needed stability along with added depth to the quality of services and professionals available.
Tuesday morning David Early VP of Support Services & Operations with Floyd and Brandon Reece, the Hospital Administrator at Floyd Cherokee Medical Center stopped by the studios of WEIS Radio to discuss some exciting changes taking place – Brandon Reece:
In this day and age people are often skeptical when they hear what sounds like just another series of promises and that’s why, as David Early explains, Floyd is in the process of putting their money where their mouth is:
Part of that expansion includes almost doubling their number of treatment rooms in the ER, which now stands at four – and that’s just the start:
To listen to that interview in its entirety, simply click on the link below:
Patients coming to the emergency room at Floyd Cherokee Medical Center in 2019 will receive care from the same emergency medicine specialists attending patients at Floyd Medical Center in Rome and Floyd Polk Medical Center in Cedartown.
ApolloMD, which provides emergency medicine specialists to Floyd Medical Center and Floyd Polk Medical Center, will become the physician provider for Floyd Cherokee Medical Center beginning at 8 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2019, said David Early, Floyd Vice President.
Emphasizing quality, efficiency, communication and patient experience, ApolloMD works collaboratively with Floyd to provide quality medical care in the emergency room setting.
Brandon Reece, Floyd Cherokee Medical Center administrator, has worked personally alongside the ApolloMD physicians for the past two years, Early said.
“ApolloMD has proven to be an excellent partner for Floyd,” Reece said. “Many of the physicians caring for our patients live and work in our community and are graduates of the Floyd Family Medicine Residency program.”
“The addition of ApolloMD comes at a time when we are investing nearly $1 million to expand and upgrade the emergency room at Floyd Cherokee Medical Center,” Early said. “Together, Floyd and ApolloMD will be well-situated to meet the emergency medical needs of the citizens of Centre, Piedmont, Cedar Bluff and throughout Cherokee and Calhoun counties.”
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On October 1st, the Floyd Ambulance Service took over the ambulance service for Cherokee County. They provide ambulance service for both advance life saving and basic life saving calls.
During the first three months they have provided service, Floyd ambulances have responded to 761 emergency calls with an average response time of six minutes from the time of dispatch to being on the scene. There were only 4 incidents when Floyd did not have a unit immediately available and Piedmont Rescue was called on to provide mutual aid and answer the call. There were eight incidents when Floyd Ambulance called in a Life Flight Helicopter. The total number of all calls answered by Floyd EMS was 1,216
In addition to these emergency calls Floyd Ambulances provided on the scene medical services to numerous fires and backed up law enforcement units on several incident calls. Floyd Ambulances also provided hundreds of patient transfers including calls from the Nursing Home to the Hospital, from the hospital back to the nursing home, and dialysis patients to and from the dialysis centers. Floyd Ambulances were also on the scene at the local high school football games to provide emergency medical services if needed.
WEIS Radio news obtained the data used in this report from the Cherokee County E9-1-1 Board through an Open Records Request.
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David Early
Vice President of Support Services and Operations
Mr. Early was promoted to Vice President of Support Services and Operations in 2018. He joined the executive team as Vice President of Support Services in 2015. He joined Floyd in 2004 as Project Manager for Floyd’s supply chain. He was named Director of Materials Management in 2005, and in 2011, was promoted to Director of Support Services.
Mr. Early holds a bachelor of science degree in organizational management from Covenant College. He earned his Master of Business Administration degree and Master of Health Administration from Georgia State University.
He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, a Fellow of the Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management, and he serves on the board of directors of Floyd Cherokee Medical Center.
He has responsibility for the following areas:
- Cherokee Medical Center
- Radiology
- The Breast Center at Floyd
- Respiratory Therapy
- Neurodiagnostics
- Non-Invasive Vascular Lab
- Pulmonary Rehabilitation
- Sleep Lab
- Support Services
- Biomedical Services
- Central Supply
- Couriers
- Environmental Services
- Food and Nutritional Services
- Mailroom
- Materials Management
- Plant Facilities
- Purchasing
- Security and Parking
- Switchboard
Mr. Early is Chairman of the Board of Directors for Distributive Cooperative, Inc., and a member of the Seven Hills Rotary Club. He previously served as a Board Member and President of the Georgia Society for Healthcare Materials Management and chairman of the Volunteer Hospitals of America Supply Chain Leaders Council.
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Brandon Reece
Hospital Administrator at Floyd Cherokee Medical Center
Greater Atlanta Area
Hospital & Health Care
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Current |
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Previous |
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Education |
Hospital Administrator
Floyd Cherokee Medical Center
June 2018 – Present 9 months
Centre, Alabama
10 years 8 months
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- Director of Emergency Department and Financial Operations
June 2015 – May 2018 3 years
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- Director Financial Operations – Nursing Division
May 2013 – May 2018 5 years 1 month
Oversee Centralized Staffing Office; Monitor capital expenditures, budgets and productivity variances; Integrate Lean Six Sigma methodologies throughout Nursing Division
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- Process Improvement Leader-Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
July 2009 – May 2013 3 years 11 months
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- Senior Staff Accountant
October 2007 – July 2009 1 year 10 months
Rome, Georgia