WITH economic challenges plaguing many areas of the country, the Bluegrass region has the advantage of a diversified economy anchored by jobs in healthcare. More than 11 percent of the area's workforce is employed in the field, making it one of the largest employment sectors in the area and offering stable, relatively good-paying jobs in a shaky economy.
The Bluegrass is home is to several large healthcare employers, including the University of Kentucky, St. Joseph Health System, Central Baptist Hospital, Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital, and a Shriners Hospital for Children. And, as healthcare needs continue to increase and medical technology expands, few of these institutions are standing still.
Dr. Michael Karpf, executive vice president for health affairs, said UK is on time and budget to finish its new million-s.f. Albert B. Chandler Hospital, which will be completed in two phases, allowing for the step-by-step replacement of the existing hospital. The project will be the cornerstone of a $2.5 billion plan to construct an academic medical campus over the next 20 years that will accelerate growth in research and health education. Its emergency room is set to open in 2010, in time for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.
UK's medical center is one of the biggest economic engines in this community right now, Karpf said. Over the past five years, more than nearly 2,000 jobs have been created or saved there (UK bought the struggling Samaritan in 2007, saving 450 jobs), adding $261 million in payroll and benefits to the economy, not including all the construction jobs involved in its capital building program.
UK's goal is to make sure Kentucky residents do not have to leave Kentucky for any of their healthcare needs, no matter how specialized. This year UK has made strides in several areas, including pediatrics. Chandler Hospital has added the Makenna David Pediatric Emergency Center, located in the renovated section of its existing emergency department but with a separate waiting room and treatment area. As one of only two Level I trauma centers in the state, UK is the only facility here to have such a pediatric emergency center. Last year, UK also opened the Kentucky Children's Heart Center, which is on target to do between 150 and 200 corrective heart surgeries on children this year.
"We used to have to send our complex patients out of state; now patients are being referred to us," Karpf said.
UK also has made inroads at the Markey Cancer Center this year, obtaining internationally known Dr. B. Mark Evers as director and also as professor of surgery in the UK College of Medicine. Evers, 51, came from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, where he was professor of surgery, director of the UTMB Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology, and the Robertson-Poth Distinguished Chair in General Surgery.
An internationally recognized gastrointestinal and endocrine surgeon, Evers has amassed hundreds of publication credits during the past two decades. His research included clinical and investigational studies as well as basic science research into the mechanisms of cancer at the cellular and molecular levels. He will bring with him to Kentucky around $5.5 million in multiyear grant funding, including more than $1 million in current-year support from the National Institutes of Health.
Other new programs/facilities at UK's medical center this year include:
* The June addition of the Markey Center's Brain and Body Radiosurgery Program, which combines state-of-the-art radiation medicine technology with top-level medical expertise in a multidisciplinary patient care setting.
* The May opening of the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute, which has brought together neurologists and neurosurgeons in a state-of-the-art clinic.
* The opening this past December of the $10 million Gill Imaging Center, which houses the UK Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging Program led by a team of radiologists, cardiologists and radiological medical physicists to precisely diagnose and assess the extent of a patient's heart disease without surgery.
* Plans to develop the Barnstable Brown Kentucky Diabetes and Obesity Center, with a $2 million donation from the Barnstable Brown Foundation that is being matched by the state's Bucks for Brains program. With Kentucky having the seventh-highest incidence of diabetes in the country, Karpf said the center will be integral in developing a team-approach protocol on how to take care of diabetes.
At Central Baptist Hospital, the goal continues to be bringing healthcare closer to patients so they don't have to drive to the main location in Lexington, said hospital spokesperson Ruth Ann Childers.
Central Baptist broke ground in June on a new facility in Richmond that will offer outpatient diagnostic services and offices for primary care physicians and specialists. The two-story, 20,000-s.f. Central Baptist Medical Plaza at Heritage Place will open early next year, creating 40 to 50 professional positions.
The hospital also is building a second facility at Brannon Crossing: Baptist Urgent Care, a walk-in clinic with night and weekend hours. The new facility will offer magnetic resonance imaging, mammography services, and space for physicians.
Saint Joseph Health System spent last year growing as it added six small regional hospitals under its aegis, which already included Saint Joseph Hospital and Saint Joseph East in Lexington. This year, it opened the Saint Joseph Jessamine RJ Corman Ambulatory Center, a standalone emergency-room facility in Jessamine County. Through early June, 10,000 patients had been seen there, 3,200 more than had been budgeted.
"It's been amazingly received and supported," said spokesman Jeff Murphy.
This summer, Saint Joseph announced that Lexington's United Radiation Oncology will become Saint Joseph Oncology, with two offices, one on Blazer Parkway and one on Bob-O-Link Drive.
Meanwhile, the standalone Women's Hospital at Saint Joseph East is scheduled for completion next year. This new 60,000-s.f., $60 million facility will provide the latest in maternity care, including 12 labor and delivery suites, 28 post-partum suites, 16 NICU beds, and 32 well-baby bassinets.
Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital in Lexington broke ground in July for a three-story addition that will double the number of beds to more than 200. The expansion, which will include a stroke unit, will be completed in the summer of 2011.
Throughout the Bluegrass, the dollars brought in by these expansions and new jobs in the healthcare industry are spent out in the communities, creating a multiplier effect.
"The healthcare industry has allowed us to sustain and even grow our economy here while other places haven't been so fortunate," said Bob Quick, president and CEO of Commerce Lexington. "These dollars have several more lives, helping not just Lexington but also the surrounding counties."
Following is a list of area hospitals.
BOURBON COUNTY
BOURBON COMMUNITY HOSPITAL
9 Linville Drive
Paris, KY 40361
(859) 987-3600
bourbonhospital.com
BOYLE COUNTY
EPHRAIM MCDOWELL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER
217 S.Third St.
Danville, KY 40422
(859) 239-1000
emrmc.org
CLARK COUNTY
CLARK REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER
1107 W. Lexington Ave.
Winchester, KY 4039
(859) 745-3500
clarkregional.org
ESTILL COUNTY
MARCUM & WALLACE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
60 Mercy Court
Irvine, KY 40336
(606) 723-2115
marcumandwallace.org
FAYETTE COUNTY
CARDINAL HILL REHABILITATION HOSPITAL
2050 Versailles Road
Lexington, KY 40504
(859) 254-5701
cardinalhill.org
CENTRAL BAPTIST HOSPITAL
1740 Nicholasville Road
Lexington, KY 40503
(859) 260-6100
centralbap.com
EASTERN STATE HOSPITAL
647 W Fourth St.
Lexington, KY 40508
(859) 246-7000
bluegrass.org
LEXINGTON VAMC
Cooper Division
1101 Cooper Drive
Lexington, KY 40502
Leestown Division
2250 Leestown Drive
Lexington, KY 40511
(859) 233-4511
lexington.va.gov
THE RIDGE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SYSTEM
3050 Rio Dosa Drive
Lexington, KY 40509
(859) 269-2325
ridgebhs.com
SAINT JOSEPH EAST
150 N. Eagle Creek Drive
Lexington, KY 40509
(859) 268-3750
sjhlex.org
SAINT JOSEPH HOSPITAL
One St. Joseph Drive
Lexington, KY 40504
(859) 313-1000
sjhlex.org
SHRINERS HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN
1900 Richmond Road
Lexington, KY 40502
(859) 266-2101
shrinershq.org/Hospitals/Lexington
ALBERT B. CHANDLER HOSPITAL
800 Rose St.
Lexington, KY 40536
(859) 257-1000
ukhealthcare.uky.edu
UK HEALTHCARE
GOOD SAMARITAN HOSPITAL
310 S. Limestone St.
Lexington, KY 40508
(859) 226-7000
samaritanhospital.com
FRANKLIN COUNTY
FRANKFORT REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER
299 Kings Daughters Drive
Frankfort, KY 40601
(502) 875-5240
frankfortregional.com
HARRISON COUNTY
HARRISON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
1210 KY Highway 36 E.
Cynthiana, KY 41031
(859) 234-2300
www.harrisonmemhosp.com
JESSAMINE COUNTY
SAINT JOSEPH JESSAMINE
1250 Keene Road
Nicholasville, KY 40356
(859) 887-4100
sjhlex.org
LINCOLN COUNTY
FORT LOGAN HOSPITAL
110 Metker Trail
Stanford, KY 40484
(606) 365-4600
fortloganhospital.org
MADISON COUNTY
PATTIE A. CLAY REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER
789 Eastern Bypass
Richmond, KY 40475
(859) 623-3131
pattieaclay.org
SAINT JOSEPH BEREA
305 Estill St.
Berea, KY 40403
(859) 986-3151
sjhlex.org
MERCER COUNTY
THE JAMES B. HAGGIN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
464 Linden Ave.
Harrodsburg, KY 40330
(859) 734-5441
hagginhosp.org
NICHOLAS COUNTY
NICHOLAS COUNTY HOSPITAL
2323 Concrete Road
Carlisle, KY 40311I
(859) 289-7181
johnsonmathers.org
SCOTT COUNTY
GEORGETOWN COMMUNITY HOSPITAL
140 Lexington Road
Georgetown, KY 40324
(502) 868-1100
georgetowncommunityhospital.com
WOODFORD COUNTY
BLUEGRASS COMMUNITY HOSPITAL
360 Amsden Ave.
Versailles, KY 40383
(859) 873-3111
bluegrasscommunityhospital.com
CENTRAL BAPTIST HOSPITAL
1740 Nicholasville Road
Lexington, KY 40503
(859) 260-6100
central bap.com
Recognized as Lexington's most preferred hospital, Central Baptist Hospital is celebrating 55 years of providing high-quality, compassionate health services.
Performing nearly 21,000 cardiac procedures and studies each year, Central Baptist was the first Central Kentucky hospital to earn Chest Pain Center with PCI accreditation, denoting that it meets or exceed benchmarks for rapidly diagnosing and treating an acute heart attack.
Central Baptist's oncology programs use the latest skills, knowledge, and technology to help patients overpower cancer. The hospital operates five outlying healthcare and diagnostic centers, and will soon open additional facilities in Jessamine and Madison counties.
Awarded Magnet status for its high-quality patient care, Central Baptist also continues to lead in maternity care, with nearly 4,000 births each year.
LEXINGTON CLINIC
1221 S. Broadway
Lexington, KY 40504
859.258.4000
Lexington Clinic, founded in 1920, has cared for multiple generations of patients and is the oldest and largest multispecialty medical group in Kentucky The Clinic is committed to healthcare excellence and offers primary care, specialty care, and inpatient services in locations and hospitals throughout Central Kentucky
A rich history places Lexington Clinic in an ideal position to meet the ongoing needs of our patients and healthcare reform challenges of the 21st century. Our physicians and staff are leading numerous initiatives and helping to implement changes that will allow the Clinic to continue providing the best care for patients. With 200 providers in more than 30 specialties, the clinic stands fully prepared to continue our history of excellent and innovative care for our patients.
