Salem Regional Ready to Open $40M Outpatient Facility

COLUMBIANA, Ohio – More than seven years in the making, Salem Regional Medical Center is ready to open its $40 million SRMC Surgery and Outpatient Pavilion in Columbiana.

With three floors, 76,600 square feet of space and state-of-the-art equipment, patients in need of medical imaging, outpatient surgeries, infusions for chronic conditions and immediate care services will find it at the facility on state Route 14 in the Firestone Farms TownCenter. 

The facility will open in stages over the next few weeks.

“This is truly an outpatient facility,” said Dr. Anita Hackstedde, president and CEO of the SRMC. “There are no facility charges like what you see in a hospital setting. In the end, we think we are going to be that preferred provider by the insurance companies and, we think, by the patients as well. We want patients to realize that we have not lessened the quality or the safety of the same level as what you would expect at a hospital, but at a much lower cost to them. And I think that’s going to be a game changer here.”

The first floor is home to the Advanced Radiology Center Medical Imaging, which will offer walk-in 3D mammograms and digital X-rays, as well as doctor-ordered 3T MRIs, CT scans, ultrasounds and DEXA scans. 

Additionally, the first floor will be home to the new plastic surgery offices of Dr. Linda Camp and nurse practitioner Maria Greier, giving them the consulting space to see patients seeking both cosmetic surgeries and breast surgeries.

On the second floor, patients will find the Firestone Surgery Center, which will offer same-day outpatient surgeries. Right now, there will be two operating rooms and two procedure rooms, but Hackstedde said there is room to expand to four operating rooms and three procedure rooms as more and more patients begin using the facility.

Dean Daringer, director of the Firestone Surgery Center, has been busy since the last steel beam went into place in October 2022, getting the 23,000-square-foot surgical floor ready with all the latest multispecialty surgical equipment and as an integrated operating room with the video capabilities for speaking with a doctor in another location or to teach others about new skills and procedures. Another area is for cleaning and sterilizing all the equipment, either by heat or chemical means.

On the third floor will be the Firestone Infusion Center and the SRMC Medical Group Physician Offices. The infusion center will allow those with chronic conditions, such as autoimmune diseases, blood disorders, Crohn’s disease, iron deficiency anemia, neuromuscular disorders, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis and skin diseases to receive the medicines and services they require on an ongoing basis.

The SRMC Medical Group Physician Offices will be available for those needing pain management; ear, nose and throat care; and both primary and immediate care.

Along with the new SRMC Primary Care-Canfield and ARC Center housed there, the independent SRMC hospital is working to bring care to the patients, while limiting visits to the hospital itself, according to Hackstedde.

“Really, hospitals should be reserved for your sickest patients,” Hackstedde said. “They are very high-cost facilities, and what we’re looking for is how to bring health care to our community, make it more convenient for our patients and also have the same level of quality and safety, but at a lower cost. So all the services here are with that in mind.”

With analysis showing health care is changing to allow patients to have more surgical interventions through outpatient procedures, Hackstedde said the facility, one of the biggest and most complex projects in SRMC’s 110-year history, allows them to continue to grow.

“This was a soybean field. … This is our field of dreams,” Hackstedde said. “I saw this when this was a soybean field, so it’s so nice to see this come to fruition.”

About $33 million was invested in the new building, and another $7 million was spent on equipment. Between 15 and 20 new employees have already been hired for the new facilities, and as it continues to expand services, more will be needed. Services will start at the end of March and early April, depending upon the service.

It has been a long time coming.

“This started pre-Covid, and actually we were just getting into the conceptual designs and purchasing the land out here right when Covid hit, so it caused a little bit of a slow down in our initial plans. But it’s been about two years to actually construct the building,” Hackstedde said. “We spent the last year really honing in on how the services will be delivered and hiring the directors and the staff for this location, so it is really exciting to see this finally starting.”

The hospital has had a presence in Columbiana for many years, Hackstedde said, noting there has been a facility on Park Avenue. Then SRMC was one of the original leaseholders for the TownCenter, where the Columbiana Family Care Center and SRMC Immediate Care at Firestone Farms are currently located. That space will be repurposed by the hospital, with those services moving to the third floor of the new facility.

Columbiana is just the latest such project, with the SRMC also expanding into Canfield, Boardman and Lisbon.

“Hospitals can’t stay within their own walls forever,” Hackstedde said, noting there are a lot of patients in Columbiana who travel to Salem for their health care needs. “We have to look at how to bring health care to the community.”

The SRMC Surgery and Outpatient Pavilion will host a grand opening from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, allowing guests to tour the new facility and learn about the services offered there. No RSVP is required to attend.

Pictured at top: Dr. Anita Hackstedde stands in front of the new 64-Slice CT scan machine in the ARC Advanced Radiology Center in the SRMC Surgery and Outpatient Pavilion at Firestone Farms in Columbiana.

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