By RAY BENTON
Leader managing editor
Rebsamen Medical Center officially becomes North Metro Medical Center on Monday, although new signs went up Friday. The facility name change is the last step of phase one of a two-phase overhaul of the 50-year old hospital.
“We had made so many changes with the hospital over two years, and so many planned, we wanted to do something to alert the community that we are really improving,” North Metro marketing coordinator Kristen James said. “We want the community to know that we are better prepared and better equipped to serve.”
The two-year process has included many facility and equipment upgrades, but the main focus of the overhaul has been customer service. All of the staff has taken classes on better customer relations and care over the past two years. There have been more than 50 hands-on workshops and monthly department meetings to prepare and equip the staff to provide better care.
“Our biggest focus has been improving our customer service,” James said. “We want to make sure that everyone that comes in not only gets great care, but that all the staff is friendly and helpful. All the changes were centered around providing the best experience possible for the people who are here. When you walk down our hallways, there is a completely different spirit.”
The facility upgrades over the past two years of phase one have included a new mammography suite and renovations of the surgery suite and all of the public waiting areas. There is also a new doctor’s lounge and dictation area.
Phase two begins in the spring with groundbreaking for a new 1,000 square-foot emergency room. Already one of the few hospitals in the area with private patient rooms, all 40 of those will also undergo renovation upgrades. There will also be a new nurses station.
Equipment is now better as well. Some of the state-of-the-art technology now on hand at North Metro includes a 40-slice CT scanner, a Philips Ultrasound and the Depuy total-knee-replacement instrument.
North Metro’s new CEO Scott Landrum, who came to Jacksonville from Weatherford, Tex., in May, believes the name change is symbolic of the tangible changes throughout the entire facility.
“The name change is completely supported by all of the staff throughout the hospital,” Landrum said in a statement released last month. “They have seen the changes we’ve undergone and know that an identity change will help people see who we’re becoming. If you are in the Jacksonville area over the next year, stop by and visit us. You will see some exciting changes in our hospital.”
