'A blessing for Harlem': Piedmont opens care center for prompt care, occupational medicine
Piedmont Healthcare unveiled a first-of-its-kind medical facility where people who live and work in and around Harlem can seek treatment closer than ever.
Medical, business and local political leaders cut the ceremonial ribbon Wednesday afternoon for Piedmont Prompt Care and Occupational Medicine, 1331 Appling-Harlem Hwy., south of Interstate 20 and north of Harlem.
Prompt care treats patients who can’t immediately see their primary care providers. Occupational medicine treats patients with job-related injuries or illnesses.
Harlem Mayor Roxanne Whitaker, a retired nurse, said that in past years Harlem-area residents had to seek medical treatment in Grovetown, 9 miles away, or Thomson, 13 miles away in neighboring McDuffie County.
“Those were your only options,” she said, calling the new Piedmont facility “a blessing for Harlem.”
Prompt care and occupational medicine are not new to Piedmont. What is new for the health care organization is putting both areas of treatment under the same roof, reflecting an anticipated rise both in the Harlem area’s number of homeowners and the number of employees in surrounding business and industry.
Expanding care: Health system gets in early on growth in Appling-Harlem area
Dr. Bo Sherwood, medical director for Piedmont’s prompt care network, said occupational medicine had typically lagged behind other care disciplines in that region of Columbia County.
“Occupational medicine is not a young discipline. It's been around for a long time,” he said. “Piedmont saw the need to push forward with this because of all the new industries and companies coming into the area. There's a big need, a huge need, for occupational medicine.”
Just a few years ago, the area’s need was low, but two recent major development catalysts in Columbia County created a greater need.
State officials announced in April 2020 that Amazon would establish a new center in Columbia County near Interstate 20, where an $8.5 million reconstruction project is replacing the bridge at Exit 183 and adding two roundabouts to accommodate the increased truck traffic the center is expected to generate.
Also currently being developed is the sprawling Greenpoint master-planned community. When completed, Greenpoint is expected to occupy about 1,200 acres between the new Harlem Middle School and I-20.
The facility near Harlem is Piedmont’s third care center in Columbia County. A prompt care facility is in Evans and a combined prompt care/primary care branch is in Grovetown.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: 'A blessing': Prompt care, occupational medicine comes to Harlem area
