AdventHealth enters agreement to provide local urgent care
Robbinsville – For months, Graham County has lacked the availability of local urgent care.
A deal announced Monday afternoon hopes to correct the issue – once and for all.
Following the exit of Bryson City-based Smoky Mountain Urgent Care in January 2023, the county brought in a provider and attempted to run the center for a span of six months. The provider failed to get credentialed in a timely manner; thus, cash flow was at a minimum and the building once again shuttered its urgent-care center Aug. 28.
To its credit, the county has not slacked in its mission to get the facility re-opened as soon as possible. Negotiations have been ongoing behind the scenes for months and one well-established entity looks to have the gig: AdventHealth of Hendersonville.
A press release touted the agreement, which said that urgent care, imaging, family care and select specialty care would all be provided by AdventHealth.
“They are committed to provide the people of Graham County whole-person care – body, mind and spirit,” reads the ending of the press release. “Stay tuned.”
Many details are still set to be ironed out, such as hours of operation. The big question of when urgent care will be open for those in need also remains a mystery.
But for anyone that has had to travel to a neighboring county – or further – because either Tallulah Health Care or the county health department were booked solid, the announcement does provide one urgent piece of healthcare: relief.
“In our conversations with the people of Graham County – the leaders and the people that live there – we clearly understood that the opportunity to add them as part of our care was not only an honor, but something we were going to take very seriously,” said AdventHealth Hendersonville Communications and Public Relations Director Victoria Dunkle. “We were very diligent to look at the opportunities, and how we could meet the need for primary care and urgent care.
“This has been an incredible opportunity for us to work and listen, and we are just blessed to be able to provide the care. We’re excited to move forward with the next steps and get this process moving.”
According to the company’s website, AdventHealth was founded in 1973 – but has origins as far back as medical professionals from the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1866.
The Adventist Health System acquired Park Ridge Health in 1984 and the name change to AdventHealth Hendersonville went into effect Jan. 2, 2019.