North Alabama Medical Center/North Alabama Shoals Hospital
North Alabama Medical Center, in Florence in Lauderdale County, and North Alabama Shoals Hospital, in Muscle Shoals in Colbert County, are sister facilities and part of LifePoint Health. They are among the largest overall employers in the Shoals.
NAMC is a regional facility with more than 200 physicians on staff, representing more than 42 specialty areas of medicine. The 263-bed facility offers the community’s only open-heart surgery site, a complete line of women’s and children’s services and medical and imaging services.
NAMC recently opened its new $13.6 million cancer center. It provides a wide range of cancer treatment and support services. It is the first in the Shoals area to offer radial EBUS system to patients that can better diagnose certain lung conditions. And it is using prone breast radiation therapy, a treatment that reduces radiation exposure to the heart and lung.
While NAMC has long been involved with robotic surgery, it is now expanding to offer colorectal surgery, with the area’s first board-certified colorectal surgeon trained in robotic procedures.
The hospital has delivered its 5,000th baby since opening in 2018, when it replaced Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital.
NAMC has received several accolades, for heart, stroke and diabetes care.
The hospital has established the NAMC Scholars Program at the University of North Alabama, providing five full scholarships for students in the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions.
North Alabama Shoals Hospital in Muscle Shoals was recently rebranded, bringing it into greater alignment with NAMC. Shoals is a full-service hospital that offers a variety of specialty services.
Shoals has 178 beds and is home to specialty programs for senior adults, including the J.W. Sommer Rehabilitation Unit to help patients return to independent living, and the Senior Care Center.
Helen Keller Hospital
Helen Keller Hospital, in Sheffield, has 185 beds and is one of Colbert County’s largest employers. An affiliate of the Huntsville Hospital Health System, it offers comprehensive services.
The hospital celebrated 100 years in March 2021, with an event that included cake, an outdoor movie, a live band and food trucks at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
The hospital acquired all new warmers, beds and bili lights for the labor and delivery department, as well as some additional lifesaving equipment including the JADA System, which helps control the danger of hemorrhage. The hospital also expanded 3D mammography to Florence in the Singing River Cancer Center.
The hospital offers a COVID-19 recovery program for those with long-term pulmonary and cardiac effects from the disease, a Parkinson’s Disease management program and a new Joint Camp through the physical therapy department.
The hospital’s Keller Wound Healing Center received a Center of Distinction Award for outstanding clinical performance and high patient satisfaction rates. It also received recognition as one of seven Top Rated Hospitals in Alabama by Becker’s Hospital Review from CMS system scores. The hospital recently implemented the Daisy and Bee Award programs to highlight high-performing staff in nursing and patient care.
This article appeared in the Otober 2022 issue of Business Alabama.
