The facility currently operates as a freestanding emergency room, but Harrisburg residents will soon have a full-service hospital to use.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — New health care options are coming to Harrisburg next year, as Atrium Health and town officials announced an expansion of the town’s current emergency room.
The hospital, located off of Rocky River Road, currently operates like a freestanding emergency room, but patients will soon be able to receive full care at the facility.
“If they expand it to provide all those services, it would really be a benefit for people living nearby here,” resident Gene Hermitte said.
He says he remembers when the hospital first opened.
“We came by for a tour and we asked questions about what the services were available, especially things like strokes and heart attacks,” Hermitte said. “We were quite surprised because they said for really serious things like that, they would have to send us to a full-service hospital.”
Town Manager Robert Donham says that won’t be the case once the expansion is complete.
“Currently, Harrisburg residents do have to travel, either out of the county, or 20, 25 minutes to Concord to access some of the more full-service hospital needs that you have, and we would anticipate all of those services being available right here to our residents,” Donham said.
Those services are specialized for more urgent matters.
“Surgery centers and the medical offices that come along with it,” Donham explained. “Imaging and hospital beds.”
He also stated that the process for expanding the facility will take time and is still in its early stages; however, it will be a contributing factor to the town’s economic development.
“The jobs, they provide a great deal of investment, both in the construction and everything, but also the workers there also need to frequent your community, they buy homes in your community, they dine and shop in your community,” Donham said.
Neighbors say it’s a welcome change.
“Much better, especially since we’re getting older now, that really is important,” Hermitte said. “So, yeah, a sense of security.”
This project will result in Cabarrus County’s second full-service emergency health care facility, joining the Atrium Health hospital in Concord.
Contact Bria Smith at bsmith6@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
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