Archbold Medical Center is committed to continuing to bring advanced cardiovascular care to the patients in South Georgia.  Part of that commitment is the nearly $7 million renovation and expansion of the Loudermilk Heart and Vascular Center located at Archbold Memorial Hospital.  

Archbold is currently in the middle of this multi-phase renovation project which is expected to be completed later this year. 

The project kicked off in late 2020, when the hospital opened a newly renovated interventional radiology suite, bringing new advancements to physicians and patients. 

As part of the $1.3 million renovation, the new suite includes the project centerpiece which is the Innova IGS 540, an imaging system for interventional radiology procedures. The system has one of the largest fields of view and is powered with dedicated advanced applications for the physicians to be able to plan, guide and assess complex procedures. 

“The great thing about this system is it allows us to get superb imaging quality when we are doing our procedures all while using a lower radiation dose for the patient,” said Craig Yokley, MD, interventional radiologist at Archbold. 

“The capabilities of this equipment enable us to use smaller catheters so we can get into the small arteries of places like the liver, brain, prostate, and the uterus,” said Tim Daniel, MD, interventional radiologist at Archbold. “Those are very small vessels that we used to struggle to get into and with this machine it now enables us to do it easier.”

In early February of this year, the next step of the rolling project continued with phase one of three of renovations and additions that will involve a series of moves and will culminate with the addition of a 5th cath lab.  

Phase one of the project will include building a new space for Echocardiography as well as new office space for staff.  This phase also creates a new Radial Lounge which will be connected to the current admit/recovery unit for the cath lab.  The new  Radial Lounge will be an area with five private recliners for post-procedure patients who don’t have to recover in a stretcher after having a cath procedure using the transradial route.  The transradial route allows the catheter to be inserted through the wrist instead of the groin.  During this phase, renovation of the existing pre-op bays will also take place as well as the construction of a new break room for the Heart & Vascular staff.  

Phase two will create a new home for the nuclear medicine program.  This will include renovation of the existing Echo rooms that will become the new home for nuclear medicine as well as the new location for reading rooms, dictation rooms and work space for doctors and midlevel providers.

Phase three will round out the project with the relocation of nuclear medicine to its new location and the renovation of the former nuclear medicine area to become the 5th cath lab which will house a Bi-plane unit for procedures.  The Bi-plane unit is a camera that– aided by a contrast dye injected into a patient’s circulatory system– takes detailed photos of the blood vessels. 

“This type of detailed imaging is some of the most advanced imaging technology in the world,” said Clay Sizemore, MD,  interventional cardiologist at Archbold.  “By investing in state of the art facilities, Archbold is creating an environment where our multidisciplinary team of providers can offer, not only the most advanced, but also the safest heart and vascular care available.”

“It’s exciting to see our heart and vascular program see such growth that we need to expand our facilities to better serve our patients,” said Chris Newman, Vice President of Clinical Services. “Technology and medical technology is always advancing, so it’s important for us to stay up-to-date and continue to bring that technology to Archbold so we can provide leading edge patient care right here in Thomasville.”