RMC Dedicates ER Fast Track
Posted 11/5/24
Regional Medical Center celebrated the legacy of the late Dr. Charlie Williams on Tuesday by dedicating a special room in the emergency department in the Anniston physician’s memory.
Known as the ER Fast Track room, it’s designed to provide specialized care for patients with less critical conditions, including minor injuries and illnesses such as sprains, lacerations, and flu symptoms. It’s been operational since May.
RMC Receives Approval for Funding from HUD
Posted 10/4/2024
The Health Care Authority of the City of Anniston (RMC) is pleased to announce the approval of a new loan issued by Greystone Funding Company, LLC and fully insured by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under a special hospital financing program. This loan will enable RMC to address existing long-term debt.
Another historical turn for Tyler Park
Posted 07/11/24
A break from the sticky heat of recent days made for a pleasant groundbreaking ceremony for dignitaries gathered near Regional Medical Center Wednesday morning.
They were there to mark a new stage in the life of old Tyler Park, nestled in a shady hollow bordered by 8th and 9th streets and Keith Avenue, practically in the shadow of the massive medical complex.
Soon to be created there is a freshly landscaped park that will have a walking trail, benches, three pavilions and a green space contained on approximately two acres. The expected date of its opening will be in late September or early October.
RMC Foundation celebrates supporters
Posted 05/04/24
RMC Foundation’s annual jubilee brought together contributors and supporters Saturday evening so that the foundation might show its gratitude to donors and announce a scholarship to an area high school senior.
About 450 people enjoyed food and drink at The Kress downtown, where a tent out front on Noble Street was needed to accommodate everyone. With old Hollywood as the theme, guests were photographed on arrival, and there was live music and dancing.
RMC and Stringfellow to More Deeply Integrate
Posted 03/23/24
Today, RMC Health System announced that in an effort to continue delivering the highest quality care to the community, RMC will more deeply integrate its two facilities, Stringfellow and RMC Hospital, and change the way it utilizes its Stringfellow campus. The transition, which is expected to take place over the course of this year, will ensure that patients can access the right services in the right settings and that RMC can meet the future healthcare needs of the communities it serves.
Good Morning Alabama on RMC’s New Partnership
Posted 2/08/23
UAB and Regional Medical Center in East Alabama is turning a decade long. partnership into an official affiliation. Doctors say the move not only gives people in Calhoun County more access to care closer to home, but it also provides more opportunities for research.
Positive Changes Coming from UAB Partnership
Posted 2/08/23
Health care leaders say all of these changes are positive. The affiliation with UAB will only bring more opportunity closer to home.
UAB Speaks on The New Partnership
Posted 2/08/23
A new partnership for the future of health care in east Alabama, U. A. B. health system and The Health Care Authority of the city of Anniston just announced a letter of intent to affiliate. RMC Anniston already has a working relationship with U. A. B. so not only, though, does this expand U. A. B. service area, but. it allows us to enhance services in northeast Alabama.
Our Exciting Future
Posted 2/08/23
The Health Care Authority of the City of Anniston (RMC) Board of Directors and Leadership Team have signed a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) for RMC to become an affiliate of the UAB Health System.
The Health Care Authority of the City of Anniston Announces Strategic Partnership Exploration
Posted 8/11/22
The Health Care Authority of the City of Anniston (RMC) Board of Directors and leadership team announced today that they have launched a strategic exploration process to determine if a potential partner could help sustain and improve local access to high-quality, low-cost care close to home and support the long-term growth of Northeast Alabama.
RMC sees slight uptick in COVID cases
Posted 6/1/22
COVID-19 cases across the state and in Calhoun County have increased with the start of summer travel season. “For about seven weeks, the COVID ward was shut down,” Magadia said. “We reopened about three weeks ago, and since then, we’ve had seven patients who have been admitted. Five of them have been discharged.
Spotlight on: Anna Moore, Martha Vandervoort Memorial Scholarship
Posted 2/3/22
Anna Moore is Regional Medical Center’s Director of Physician Services, and she serves on the board of the RMC Foundation. The foundation is currently planning its annual scholarship-fundraising event, the Garden Jubilee. The Garden Jubilee will take place on Saturday, May 14, and will raise money for the Martha Vandervoort Memorial Scholarship. Eligible students may apply for the scholarship by March 7.
RMC Operating just one COVID unit
Posted 10/20/21
COVID-19 numbers continue to plummet at Regional Medical Center in Anniston. During the hospital’s weekly COVID town hall social media broadcast, Michele Ford, director of education & infection prevention and COVID coordinator, reported that there were 17 COVID inpatients at RMC.
Golf tournament raises money for RMC Foundation
Posted 10/14/21
The 25th annual Regional Medical Center Foundation Golf Classic held Wednesday was “so much fun,” there were many golfers who only had the chance to swing with their hearts and not their 9-irons.
RMC Foundation sponsoring ‘Farm Fest’ party for frontline workers
Posted 3/5/21
After a year of working through the COVID-19 pandemic, Regional Medical Center staff and some first responders will be treated to a night out in June, the hospital announced this week.
As COVID numbers drop, RMC, Stringfellow to allow patients two visitors
Posted 3/5/21
Starting Saturday, patients at Regional Medical Center and its sister hospital, Stringfellow Memorial, will be allowed two visitors at a time, RMC officials announced Friday.
Spotlight on: Bridgette Magouirk, RMC Covid Response
Posted 3/3/21
Bridgette Magouirk is Director of Regional Medical Center Occupational Health, Wellness, Wellness Extension and Employee Health. She is also an instrumental person in our area’s response to the pandemic.
Local doctors encourage COVID-19 vaccinations at Zinn Park event
Posted 2/27/21
Dr. Benjamin Bailey has seen the same thing happen over and over: Someone will have tried to get the COVID-19 vaccine, failed and then caught the virus.
That’s why, Bailey said, it’s important for everyone to get the vaccine as soon as they possibly can.
Regional Medical Center reopens to visitors as COVID cases decline
Posted 2/17/21
Regional Medical Center in Anniston announced Monday that the hospital is once again open to visitors, as the winter wave of COVID-19 continues to recede.
As of Monday morning, an RMC official said there were 22 people in the hospital with coronavirus, compared to the 80-plus in hospital beds when the disease peaked in January.
Local appointment portal reopens Friday as frustrating COVID vaccine rollout continues
Posted 2/4/21
It took all of 75 minutes for Calhoun County residents to snap up more than 4,000 slots for COVID-19 vaccinations on Thursday morning.
More chances to get the vaccine will be up for grabs Friday — but only because a telephone hotline crashed before health care workers could set all the appointments.
Smoother Shots: Local officials working out the kinks as vaccination campaign set to ramp up
Posted 2/2/21
“It went a lot better than last time,” Lee said. “I didn’t have to wait. Last time I was in line for four hours.”
The scene was orderly in part because everyone there was indeed getting a second shot — and was in fact guaranteed one if they had the first one in January. There was no need to jockey for a position in line with limited supplies.
Louis Bass, a key leader in the fight against COVID, is The Star’s 2021 Citizen of the Year
Posted 1/29/21
In the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, volunteers in Calhoun County sewed 100 cloth facemasks and delivered them to Regional Medical Center.
Louis Bass, chief executive officer of RMC, waved off any skeptics and accepted the masks graciously. And, yes, they did wind up on the faces of medical workers — not in the coronavirus unit, but at local testing sites.
Inside the COVID Unit: RMC nurses speak about fear, exhaustion and patients dying
Posted 1/23/21
After months as nurse manager in one of Regional Medical Center’s COVID-19 units, Cindy Justice thought she understood the emotional impact of a serious case of coronavirus.
Patients would enter the ward, typically short of breath and often fearful for their lives. For days or weeks, their only companions were nurses and the flat faces of loved ones on the screen of an iPad. Some said their final goodbyes that way.
RMC gets better protective equipment for COVID unit workers
Posted 1/12/21
When nurses and doctors intubate patients — placing a tube down the windpipe of someone with a severe case of coronavirus to help them breathe — they typically wear protective N95 masks, according to George. The PAPR (pronounced “papper”) is a big step up from that.
Hospital flooded with patients as coronavirus vaccine effort moves forward
Posted 1/8/21
Doctors at Regional Medical Center have treated COVID-19 patients on stretchers in hallways in recent days as coronavirus hospitalizations reached record numbers, doctors said Wednesday.
“I’ve been practicing for 25 years,” said Dr. Almena Free, vice president for medical affairs at RMC. “I have not seen anything like this in all my days.”
Born in Anniston — and in 2021, thank goodness
Posted 1/8/21
For 31 hours, stretched across three days and the calendar’s turn from one year to the next, Trina Scarlett Moody made her parents wait, which her family may remember as either a childhood tantrum or a stroke of sentimental genius.
Both could be true.
First COVID shots for 75 and up in Calhoun County begin after surprise announcement
Posted 1/5/21
When David and Connie Spellman woke up Tuesday, they didn’t expect to be vaccinated for COVID-19 any time soon. But when they heard that vaccines were available for free to people aged 75 and older at Anniston City Meeting Center, they headed right down. The couple lives in Anniston; he’s 87, she’s 86.
RMC halts non-emergency surgeries to make space for COVID surge
Posted 12/30/20
Non-emergency surgeries and procedures have been canceled at Regional Medical Center in Anniston to free up staff and space to treat more COVID-19 patients, the hospital announced.
RMC warns ambulances away as COVID-19 fills ICU beds
Posted 12/14/20
Regional Medical Center in Anniston is urging ambulance crews to take patients to other hospitals because COVID-19 has filled the hospital’s intensive care facilities to capacity, the hospital’s CEO said Monday.
Gov. Ivey Extends Mask Order to January 22nd
Posted 12/09/20
Ivey’s move was widely expected, as the state undergoes a post-Thanksgiving surge in COVID-19 that far exceeds the infections Alabama saw over the summer.
RMC postponing elective surgeries as COVID cases rise
Posted 12/09/20
Regional Medical Center in Anniston is beginning to postpone some elective procedures to free resources to deal with an influx of coronavirus patents, one of the hospital’s doctors said in a Wednesday press conference.
Regional Medical Center preparing for COVID-19 Thanksgiving surge
Posted 12/04/20
Hospitals across the state are expecting a COVID-19 Thanksgiving surge in the next few days. Regional Medical Center’s Infectious Disease Specialist, Dr. Raul Magadia, said the hospital has seen an increase in COVID-19 patients in the last few weeks.
Free’s Promotion A Big Deal For RMC
Posted 11/14/20
In no particular order, Almena Free is an Anniston physician, a person of faith, an identical twin, a Hoosier (then) and an Alabamian (now), a hospital administrator and a dancer so accomplished that she’s downright famous for it.
How are local health experts planning to celebrate Thanksgiving?
Posted 11/12/20
Local health experts are planning to celebrate Thanksgiving Day, but on a smaller scale this year.
They said the holiday’s traditional festivities, involving large family gatherings, may be risky in the midst of rising numbers in the COVID-19 pandemic and urged locals to stay home or find alternate ways to celebrate.
Local COVID hospitalizations spike during weekend
Posted 11/12/20
“It’s like the floodgate opened,” said Dr. Raul Magadia, who runs the coronavirus ward at RMC.
Health officials say it is a sign of how fast the situation can change as the pandemic spreads. And they can’t rule out the arrival of a long-predicted second wave of the virus as the weather cools.