Medical forum to talk plans for county

The Columbia County Chamber of Commerce will offer a medical forum on Tuesday, at which representatives from area hospitals will tell their plans for the county.

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The forum will be held from 7:15 to 9 a.m. at the Columbia County Board of Education Building at 4781 Hereford Farm Road in Evans.

Representatives from Trinity Hospital of Augusta, Doctors Hospital, University Hospital and MCG Health Inc.'s Physicians Practice Group will attend to talk about their medical programs.

Crews are working to complete a $13 million expansion to the Evans University Hospital complex that will include a fourth medical office building and a 264-space parking deck.

The MCG Health Inc. and the Physicians Practice Group are completing internal planning for the $26 million first phase of a medical campus at Knob Hill Farm and Washington roads.

"MCG Health Inc. and PPG, they are investing heavily in Columbia County. We just want to hear what it is all about," said Karen Chrjapin, the chamber's executive director. "That's why we invited them specifically ... We want to know what this is all about."

Chrjapin said she has heard rumblings of a Columbia County hospital.

She said any medical provider hoping to build one needs to have a certificate of need, which is a state license required to add hospital beds and medical equipment to a state-determined hospital service area.

"Columbia County is getting to the point we can support our own hospital," Chrjapin said. "I think a lot of (the medical providers) are interested in being that service provider."

The forum is part of the bimonthly Not Just Coffee event, which is a morning networking event designed for chamber members to discuss issues facing Columbia County. It is held on the second Tuesday of every other month.

Evans High School Culinary Arts students will prepare and serve breakfast at the event.

"We're excited about giving them that opportunity to show off what they can do," Chrjapin said.

The forum is free to chamber members and costs $15 for nonmembers. Reservations are required and can be made by calling Chris Baum, the chamber's director of programs, at (706) 651-0018.