SHOULD WELLSTAR DOUGLAS BE EXPANDED?

SUBSCRIBER ONLY POLL!

I unfortunately did not feel well and had to go to Wellstar Douglas yesterday. I noticed a few things while there. It didn’t seem like the three triage rooms were being used for triage. Instead, a room off the waiting room was being used and partitioned with curtains to take blood and hook up IV ports.

I am guessing all of the ER rooms were full. There were recliners along at least two walls in the ER hallways with partitions between them.

Staff did a great job in spite of the overflowing ER, kept me updated, and it was not as long of a wait as I had in years past.

Douglas County’s population was 149,160 in 2023. It was estimated to be 151,887 in 2024. It is estimated to be 152,574 in 2025. The county is steadily growing—but Wellstar Douglas, it seems, is not. The most recent addition was a pediatric ER in 2021.

Wellstar Health System’s website states that Wellstar Douglas has 108 beds.

There is an expansion planned for the Wellstar Healh System, but details have not been disclosed. News was just announced for a new 230 bed hospital in Acworth.

Upon looking at the Georgia Department of Community Health website, Wellstar Douglas received one violation in 2024. A patient’s MRI, which was supposed to be done STAT, took two days to complete:

10/17/24 08:22:43 p.m . NP (Nurse Practitioner) enters order
10/18/24 07:49:56 a.m. CT not answering
10/18/24 03:17:16 p.m. CT still not answering
10/18/24 03:18:30 p.m. CT still not answering, called charge RN, she's not answering 10/19/24 03:07:07 p.m. P#1 appointment scheduled
10/19/24 03:07:12 p.m. P#1 arrived for study
10/19/24 03:55:52 p.m. MRI Imaging begins
10/19/24 04:08:05 p.m. MRI Imaging ends

https://weblink.dch.georgia.gov/WebLink/ElectronicFile.aspx?docid=205672&dbid=0&repo=WEB