Highlands Medical Center
Jackson County is home to Highlands Medical Center in Scottsboro. It is a 170-bed full service, acute care facility that is part of the Huntsville Hospital Health System. It has more than 850 employees and is one of the largest employers in the county.
Highlands provides a wide range of medical and surgical services with related facilities offering primary care, occupational medicine, ob-gyn, pediatrics and long-term nursing home care.
The hospital is Joint Commission accredited and is rated a four-star quality hospital by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, making it one of the top-rated hospitals in the state.
In August 2023, Cumberland Health & Rehab celebrated four new renovated suites and a new chapel. And in July 2023, its occupational medicine moved to a new location on the hospital campus.
Ashley Pool was appointed president of the facility in 2022. She has 25 years of health care experience as an ICU nurse, nurse practitioner, rural clinic owner and hospital administrator. She comes to Highlands from Lakeland Community Hospital in Haleyville, where she was CEO and COO.
Marshall Medical Centers
Marshall Medical Center has more than 1,700 employees between its two hospitals — in Guntersville and Boaz — and other facilities, placing it among the county’s largest employers. It is affiliated with Huntsville Hospital Health System.
In June 2023, the hospital opened a $61.3Â million Patient Tower that replaces all patient rooms and converts the north end of Marshall Medical South in Boaz into a new entrance. It represents the largest construction project on Sand Mountain in more than a decade.
The expansion features a 64-room, two-floor bed tower of patient suites that are each supported by its own nursing staff. Each room has critical care technology for those who have life-threatening injuries and illnesses. Rooms have a wall of windows over the Marshall South campus.
The project also includes a 25,000-square-foot concourse with natural light, cafeteria, coffee shop, gift shop and waiting areas.
There also is a new check-in and consult room for outpatient surgery and a waiting area, along with meeting facilities.
Marshall South’s ICU also was expanded to 18 beds and upgraded for better safety, additional storage and equipment that helps with noise control and privacy.
Additional renovations included the emergency entrance and replaced aging windows with energy-efficient ones. The hospital added 113 more parking spaces on the north side of the hospital and a vehicle bridge.
The health system also includes Marshall Professional Center and the Marshall Cancer Care Center.
DeKalb Regional Medical Center
DeKalb Regional, in Fort Payne, is licensed for 134 beds and provides a full range of medical and surgical services. In 2021, it celebrated its 35th anniversary.
The hospital has about 450 employees and more than 125 affiliated physicians and providers.
DeKalb Regional is also affiliated with physician practices in primary and specialty care in eight locations, including family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, orthopedics, sports medicine, neurology, sleep medicine and interventional cardiology.
In February 2022, the hospital named Darrell Nolon Blaylock as CEO. He has more than 30 years of experience with community hospitals throughout the country.
Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center
Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center is a not-for-profit acute care hospital licensed for 60 beds. Located in Centre, the hospital primarily serves the residents of Cherokee County and the vacationers who frequent Lake Weiss, which stretches from the eastern border of the county to its western border.
Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center is accredited by the Joint Commission and has approximately 100 employees. It has an economic impact on the community of approximately $33.3 million.
The hospital provides emergency care, imaging, drug and alcohol treatment, lab work, a pharmacy, respiratory care, sleep studies and surgical services. Since affiliating with Atrium Health Floyd, the hospital has installed a new, 64-slice CT scanner, doubled the size of its emergency room and expanded and remodeled the emergency room’s waiting area. The total cost of the emergency room’s expansion and renovation was approximately $1 million.
Atrium Health Floyd operates rural health clinics in Piedmont and Centre, providing primary and urgent care services, and is the E-911 ambulance provider for Cherokee County with three EMS stations covering the county.
This article appears in the November 2023 issue of Business Alabama.
